THE SEED BED. 45 



THE SEED BED FOR GRASSES AND CLOVERS. 



The ideal seed bed for grasses and clovers is a firm but friable lower 

 soil, with loose, well-tilled top soil. To produce this condition 

 requires careful tillage for several years preceding the sowing. The 

 soil should contain sufficient moisture to insure the young plants a good 

 start in case there should be a deficient rainfall after sowing. Seed 

 sown on a dry soil may receive sufficient rainfall to germinate, but not 

 enough to supph^ the young plants with the necessary moisture. Care- 

 ful preparation of the seed bed is more essential in seeding grasses 

 than in seeding almost any other crop, and failure to obtain a stand 

 entails a greater loss. Land that has been planted to a cultivated crop, 

 for which the soil has been well tilled and which has received clean and 

 level cultivation, may in most cases be well fitted for seeding grasses 

 by disking and harrowing without plowing, provided the trash be 

 removed. When disking the disk should always be lapped one-half 

 on each round, thus covering the field twice, and generally it is well to 

 go over the field a second time at right angles to the first disking. 

 A smoothing harrow should follow the disk. Well-cultivated land has 

 these advantages: The weeds have been exterminated, the moisture 

 has been conserved, and the top soil is in good tilth. Fall plowing is 

 desirable on land that settles well through the winter and that does not 

 blow badly, but there is much soil on which fall plowing can not be 

 done advantageously when spring seeding is intended. In any case as 

 long a period as possible should elapse between plowing and seeding, 

 but during that time the top soil should be kept loose and clean with 

 the disk or drag. During this period the soil settles, the large spaces 

 are filled, and the moisture is diffused through the plowed soil. Disk 

 ing the soil before plowing is advisable, as it cuts up the trash if there 

 is any, and pulverizes the soil turned under so that it settles more 

 quickly. The use of the subsurface packer or the disk set straight and 

 run in the direction of the furrow also helps greatly to firm the soil. 

 The use of either of these implements should follow the plow by the 

 least possible number of hours. Stubble land for fall seeding may in 

 some cases best be plowed and in others disked, depending on a great 

 variety of circumstances, but in any case the sooner the soil is pre- 

 pared after cutting the grain the better, and it is imperative that the 

 surface be kept stirred and clean up to the time of seeding. 



ANNUAL FORAGE CROPS. 



Sorghum. 



Sorghum {Andropogon sorghum) is one of the most important annual 

 forage grasses of the United States. It is grown throughout the South 

 and well to the west on the Great Plains. It resists drought better 



