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~Henderson’s Special Grass Mixtures 
FOR HAY AND PERMANENT PASTURE. 
From ‘“‘ COUNTRY GENTLEMAN,”’ published in Albany, N. Y. 
GRASS CULTURE. 
By invitation of Messrs. PETER HENDERSON & Co., of New 
York, arepresentative of this paper visited their experimental 
grass plats. 
To reproduce English turf in the face of American drouths and 
heat may not be possible ; to better the common clover and 
timothy practice, with its frequent thin results and 
speedy running out, is surely feasible. Instead of three 
or four varieties, ten to fifteen or twenty are used; tall and short 
grasses, coarse and fine, late and early sorts, are deftly combined 
in varying proportions according to the end in view. 
Below the taller grasses was a thick mat of finer 
kinds, and the close, rich turf hid every particle of soil. 
There did not seem to be room for another spear of 
grass. Going over to an ordinary timothy meadow 
near by, the contrast was striking. The individual 
spears in a foot square could easily be counted; 
‘“‘standing-room’’ for more was abundant. The soil 
had not been ‘‘worked for all it was worth,’’ and 
the thoughtful farmer might do some suggestive 
figuring. In cutting the lower plats next day, it was estimated 
the yield would run three tons to the acre. (We afterward found 
ona well-kept Orange County farm that the yield was only half a 
ton to the acre on fields that yielded three tons last year.) 
It is not our purpose to go into the details of grass culture in 
chis article; our brief survey and study would not do justice to 
them. We wish simply to call the attention of farmers to the 
work in progress, that they may watch for results likely to be of 
great value. What they will do is what we wait to see. Surely, if 
“to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before”’’ is 
worthy of praise and record, the Messrs. Henderson deserve a 
ticher tribute, for they are growing 40—nay, Ioo to 1! 
From ‘““ AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST,’”’ published in New York City. 
BEST GRASSES FOR HAY AND FOR PASTURE. 
By a judicious choice of seeds, mixtures have been effected 
which will give constant pasturage in this climate from early 
spring until late in the autumn. Or, they will yield a heavy crop 
of hay and a few weeks after are ready for use as pastures, and 
will remain in good condition for this purpose until winter sets 
in, and again yielding a good hay crop the next season, and so on 
year after year. In some of these mixtures the turf is 
remarkably close and tough, the grass roots matting 
together thoroughly and going deep down. 
Timothy, and in many parts ‘“‘timothy and clover,’’ is the 
standard grass in the country. While timothy is a valuable grass, 
there are some other kinds so much better, which last longer, yield 
a heavier crop, will stand various climatic and soil conditions 
better, it is astonishing that the majority of farmers should still 
stick to the timothy without even giving one or more of the other 
kinds and mixtures a fair trial. 
When it is considered that by a very small additional outlay at 
least double the yield that can be produced by timothy will be 
obtained by the use of other grasses and mixtures which are of 
just as good quality as timothy, and some of them better, it is 
strange that farmers are not willing to depart from the old, deep- 
worn ruts, and thus effect considerable financial gain. It should 
also be remembered that a discriminate mixture of 
grasses and clover gives a better result than does any 
kind grown by itself, for the simple reason that mix- 
tures are bound to grow closer together on the ground, 
and thereby their component species protect one an- 
other from undue heat and drought; 
Such mixtures are far superior to timothy or ‘‘ timo- 
thy and clover,’’ or any one grass, costing but a little 
more, lasting much longer, and giving frequently more 
than double the yield. 
EXTRACTS FROM THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 
From ‘“FaRM AND HomgE,”’’ published in Springfield, Mass. 
MORE HAY AND BETTER PASTURE. 
Bare pastures are a source of loss to the farmer. The broad 
acres that must be devoted to grass are paying taxes and interest, 
and if not covered with luxuriant hay and pasture are breeding 
weeds. If seeded with well-proportioned mixtures of proper 
grasses, even the steep hillside will yield pasture and hay, which 
every farmer knows is rich with money. 
On a stony hillside at their Trial Farm the seedsmen, Peter 
Hende son & Co., are testing many varieties and mixtures to find 
what grasses or mixtures of grasses will make in America the 
famous turf of the meadows and pastures of Europe. 
The tendency to run out and the many thin stands obtained with 
timothy and clover, or with any separate grasses, led to the trial 
of mixtures of imported and other grasses which have become 
naturalized in America. The natural sod is formed of a mixture of 
many grasses, each variety having a certain use in meeting the 
varying conditions of growth. 
The enormous yield of nearly 4% tons of good hay 
per acre should convince any one that more hay and 
better pasture can be grown with mixtures than with 
timothy and c'over alone, as, under the very same con- 
ditions, the latter yielded less than a ton and a half 
(2,760 Ibs.) per acre. Timothy, after being cut, throws all its 
strength into storing food in a bulbous swelling at the base of the 
stem, upon which its next season’s growth depends, and hence 
cannot be pastured nor cut a second time without seriously injur- 
ing the next year’s crop. The grasses in both the temporary and 
permanent mixtures grow direct from the roots, which are dense 
and fibrous, yielding a second crop each season, and after that can 
be safely pastured by one cow per acre. 
From ‘RURAL NEW YORKER,” published in New York City. 
THE VALUE OF GRASS SEED MIXTURES. 
This firm (P. H. & Co.) has been engaged in a long series of 
experiments in making up mixtures of grass seeds for hay and 
permanent pasture, and also for lawns. The underlying idea 
seems to be that these different grasses, hiving different root 
systems, will occupy the ground more fully if a number of different 
kinds are sown together. On the farm, are about 30 acres of 
these different grasses, some plots sown with singie kinds only, 
to show the individual manner of growth, and others 1n mixture, 
Some of them sown as far back as 1892, and now bearing 
heavy crops. 
The first piece we visited was one that was seeded with about 
three bushels per acre of Henderson’s Special Grass Mixture for 
Hay and Permanent Pasture for Light Soil. Mowing had begun 
in this plot, and it was so thick on the bottom that much 
difficulty was experieuced in getting the mower through 
it. Some of the taller of the grasses were up to the shoulders of 
an ordinary man. It was estimated that this cutting would yield, 
at the very least, 2% tons per acre, of the very best of hay, superior 
to Timothy in feeding value. 
The earliness of the grasses as compared with Tim- 
othy is a desirable feature, as the haying season comes on at 
a time when there is little pressing work going on, and the hay 
is all in the barn before grain harvest. 
Few of the old-time methods of seeding will give an 
amount of hay equal to this first cutting, and it is said 
that, after the hay is off, the grasses will start up again 
so quickly that fine pasturage will be afforded, or at 
least 1% ton per acre more hay may be cut in August 
or September. 
Many of the plats were sown six years ago this coming Fall, and 
have had one dressing of commercial fertilizer and bone, clearly 
showing the permanent nature of i hese grasses, as a plot 
of Timothy sown at the same time ran out and was plowed up and 
re-seeded a year ago. 
