60 CULTIVATION METHODS AND ROTATIONS FOR GREAT PLAINS. 



Brome-grass meadow. — If a good catch of brome-grass has been 

 obtained, there should be a good yield of both hay and seed the 

 following year. Where brome-grass seed is in demand, the seed 

 crop is usually much more profitable than the hay crop, but, of 

 course, only a small portion of the total crop of brome-grass can 

 be used for this purpose each year in a locality where it is being 

 extensively grown. The second year's crop of brome-grass usually 

 yields more hay but less seed per acre, so that as a general thing 

 the seed should be saved from the first year's crop and the second 

 year's crop used mainly for hay. We have sometimes found it desir- 

 able to cut the seed with a binder, setting it high enough so as not 

 to cut the thick mass of grass at the bottom, and to follow the 

 binder with a mowing machine to cut the hay. In cutting brome- 

 grass for seed great care should be exercised to harvest it at just 

 the right time; that is, as soon as the seed is mature and before it 

 begins to shed. We have frequently seen a crop of seed reduced 

 one-half by a delay of two days in cutting. 



, After the second year's crop of brome-grass has been cut the sod 

 should be broken in order to prepare the land for the crop of oats, 

 barley, emmer, or wheat which is to follow. The proper time for 

 breaking the sod will depend upon the locality, soil, and climatic 

 conditions. In the northern part of the area it will be found entirely 

 practicable to cut a crop of hay in June, break the sod immediately, 

 and sow a crop of flax upon the sod. In this way two crops can be 

 obtained from the field the same year, and, in addition to the advan- 

 tage of raising two crops, the soil will be in better condition for the 

 crop of grain which is to follow the next year than it would be if 

 the sod was simply broken and allowed to remain without a crop 

 until the following spring. 



Oats, barley, emmer, or wheat. — The treatment of the brome-grass 

 sod from the time it is broken until the seeding of the following 

 spring is a matter concerning which it is very difficult to lay down 

 any very definite rule. The object is, of course, to get the sod as 

 thoroughly rotted and subdued as possible and to get the soil into 

 the best possible condition for the seed bed for the spring crop. The 

 means adopted to attain this end will depend so much upon local 

 conditions, peculiarities of soil, climate, etc., that the farmer will 

 have to depend largely upon his own judgment and experience. If 

 a crop of flax has been raised, the sod will rot much more rapidly 

 than where flax is not raised, and it will usually be found desirable 

 to backset the sod in the fall if there is sufficient moisture in the soil. 

 Where a crop of flax has not been raised, the question of backsetting 

 in the fall or allowing the sod to remain undisturbed until the fol- 

 lowing spring is one that must depend upon local conditions. 



187 



