LIGHT SEEDS. 131 
satisfactorily cover the land ; three bushels per acre being usually 
sown when it is used by itself. It is said that one should sow 
about ten million seeds per acre for permanent pasture. Now 
as there are about 250,000 seeds to the pound estimated to 
germinate, a farmer who uses a peck per acre with his trefoil 
mixture, and does not find much grass resulting therefrom, 
should not be astonished at the result of his scant sowing. 
In weight it runs from 18 to 20 lb. per bushel, and in one 
thing it differs from perennial ryegrass, in that it does not 
spread out and tiller so much. 
Harp Fescug (Festuca DURIUSCULA, LINN.). 
We now have to deal with a very important family of 
grasses—the fescues, which are second only to the ryegrasses. 
Hard fescue being cheaper and easier to obtain than others 
-of its kind, we will deal with it first in our notes. 
It is called hard fescue, because when the seed spikelets are 
ripe they should be quite hard. On suitable soils its use is 
most valuable, as it forms a dense bottom to the pasture, and 
has proved itself more capable of fighting its way among 
stronger grasses than any other of its species. 
If we designate hard fescue “the poor man’s grass” we 
shall, perhaps, imply more by that definition than we otherwise 
-can in the rest of our notes which are made under this 
sub-heading. 
This mainstay of the permanent pasture will always be found’ 
-extremely nutritious, and stock of all kind take to it freely. It 
will thrive on any kind of soil if not too moist, and on well- 
-drained lands it will withstand a wet season as well as it will a 
dry one. 
Not being of a creeping nature its seeds should be sown 
with a free hand, except on wet or water-slain soil, because 
_although not absolutely dwarfish by nature, it is distinctly 
