APRIL 21 
Alfalfa than with any other clover or grass 
that the College farm has had experience with. 
Red Clover deserves a prominent place in 
the list of forage plants suited to Eastern and 
Central Kansas. In 1874 and’75, two excep¬ 
tionally dry seasons, it failed almost entirely 
at the College farm, giving neither pasture 
nor hay; but, during the favorable seasons 
which have since prevailed, it has flourished 
abundantly, and has yielded more—both of bay 
and pasture—than is generally obtained in the 
East. Two excellent crops of hay and a crop 
of seed from the same ground have been cut in 
one season. Red Clover in Kansas has oue 
interesting peculiarity worth mentioning. 
When land is once seeded it never "runs out,” 
as is the case in the Eastern States, but thick¬ 
ens and spreads continually by self-seeding. 
Prof. S. believes that nowhere are such large 
crops of clover seed grown as in Kansas. 
but this operation ought not to be delayed 
much beyond the middle of April. 
above estimate. Professor W. A. Henry says 
that details of the experiments will appear in 
the Second Annual Report on Amber Cane 
and the Ensilage of Fodders, now in the hands 
of the State Printer. 
turns out the worst. It is ruined. Four-fifths 
of all the wheat in this section will he plowed 
under. The very general opinion is, the 
damage was done by the fly in the Fall. The 
late sowing is very much less damaged than 
the early. Having facilities for gaining gen¬ 
eral and extensive information on the wheat 
prospect I will briefly give it. There has been 
considerable damage done in Texas, and the 
season is like our own, three to four weeks 
later than the average. All the. wheat south 
of 39 ° —say Kansas City—from the Missouri 
to the Atlantic seems damaged 25 to 50 per 
cent on the average. This I am aware differs 
from views expressed in the Rural and else¬ 
where. But Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, In¬ 
diana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee are the 
(treat Winter wheat fields of America, and 
there certainly the damage to-day seems as 
stated above. [We have absolutely no special 
views with regard to the creeps; we merely 
collect the most trustworthy obtainable in¬ 
formation, condense a great deal of it in 
a few lines, and give it for what it is worth 
at the time. All later information is given 
in one part or another of the paper every 
week, without any regard whatever to its 
bearings upon previous announcements. As 
the Spring advances fuller and juster opinions 
of the Winter grain can be formed, and it is 
our business to give the latest views on the 
matter. Eds.] North of the river in Mis¬ 
souri and in the northwest portion of Kansas 
the prospect is much better than here. There 
is no grass on the prairies yet. The month of 
Of Meadow Oat Grass (Avena elatior) which 
has been sold in both the West and East as 
“ Evergreen Grass,” Prof. Shelton speaks in 
high terms. No grass that he has yet tried 
has, during its first season, made such a vigor¬ 
ous growth as Meadow Oat Grass did last 
year. In this respect, it has greatly surpassed 
Orchard Grass. It made a much better stand 
tban did Orchard Grass growing Ireside it, and 
endured the severe and protracted drought of 
the latter part of the season better, retaining 
its intense green throughout. This grass, 
although sown late in April, gave a heavy 
cutting of hay in July, which has never before 
happened at the College farm with any other 
sort. Whether this grass will endure tramp¬ 
ing, severe droughts, and at tunes the gnawings 
of grasshoppers remains to lie seen. 
Grasses in Kansas.— The Kansas Indus¬ 
trialist of March 17. is for the most part taken 
up with a consideration of the most, valuable 
grasses for that State. Along the eastern bor¬ 
ders of the State, and for 30 or more miles 
west of the Missouri line, Kentucky Blue 
Grass and Timothy are standard grasses which 
uniformly produce bountiful crops of hay and 
pasture, while iu Professor Shelton's experi¬ 
ence at Manhattan, these grasses have uni¬ 
formly failed. Again, in seeding, this differ¬ 
ence is strikingly shown. Along the eastern 
border of Kansas grass seeds may be sown in 
the Fall writh wheat or other grain, or even 
upon the raw prairie, writh the assurance of 
success. His experience and observations iu a 
large number of cases have been that grass 
seeds sown upon the raw prairie, or among 
wheat plants, never give a “stand”; and most 
sorts when sown in the Fall are, in that 
section, almost certain t.o fail. To restore 
fa nil lauds to "condition” no agency is so pow¬ 
erful as pasturing. Indeed, under ordinary 
agricultural conditions, it is the only means of 
improving upon a large scale worn soils. In 
the central and western parts of the State, 
where the w ild grasses still occupy much of 
the country, the necessity for the cultivated 
grasses is felt for various reasons. The wild 
grasses, with the exception of the "Buffalo” 
Grasses, furnish feed for stock rarely longer 
than the five hottest months. They are the 
last to appear in the Spring, often failing to 
furnish feed earlier than May 10th, and they 
are made worthless by the first frosts of Fall. 
But, worse than this, the prairie grasses can¬ 
not endure close pasturing or heavy tramping. 
Notoriously, the most promising wild pastures, 
after three or four years of even moderately 
close grazing, liecome permanently occupied 
by coarse, rank-smelling, worthless weeds. 
For pasture. Professor Shelton has no hesita¬ 
tion in recommending the followring sorts, 
placing them in the order of their importance: 
Orchard Grass, Alfalfa, Rad Clover, English 
Blue Grass, Kentucky Blue Grass. For mow¬ 
ing purposes, his experience has shown, very 
steadily, that Alfalfa. Red Clover. English 
Blue Grass, perhaps Meadow Oat Grass, and 
Timot hy a r* the best. Bo far as the matter of 
withstanding the effects of drought is con¬ 
cerned, t hese sorts rank, with him. in about the 
foliowring order: Alfalfa, Orchard Grass, Red 
Clover, Meadow Oat, Grass, Kentucky Blue 
Grass, English Blue Grass and Timothy. 
While a strong clay loam is well suited to 
most kinds of grasses and clover, Professor I 
Shelton has obtained t he largest yields of both 
Alfalfa and Orchard Grass from laud that was 
of a pronounced sandy type, though very fer¬ 
tile; and he is very confident that upon soils 
composed largely of sand Alfalfa will give 
better satisfaction iu Kansas than any grass 
or clover. Oate, wheat and rye are often rec¬ 
ommended as excellent crops writh w'hieh to 
sow grass seed. The argument is that the tall 
grain will shade and protect, the young grass. 
But grass does not need shade, when sown in 
proper season; it ueisls the sun: and, especial¬ 
ly, it needs moisture, and this the vigorous 
grain is continually taking from the soil, thus 
robbing the young grass plants from the start. 
Every farmer knows how spindling, sickly, 
and how lacking iu strength of root and stem, 
is a grass or clover plant growing in dense 
masses of grain. When this grain is harvest¬ 
ed in June or July, just when the Summer's 
heats are the greatest, the delicate, starved 
grass plants are certain to perish, unless long- 
continued, cool and cloudy w eather prevent. 
Regarding the relative merits of clover 
and Alfalfa—a question often raised—Prof. 
Shelton has to say that while clover yields 
scarcely more thau half the hay or pasture 
given by Alfalfa, in point of quality it is 
greatly inferior. The stalks of Alfalfa are 
nearly solid and woody, and the waste in feed- 
ing it is great as compared with clover. He 
is decidedly of the opinion that where clover is 
successfully grown no farmer will long culti 
vate Alfalfa. 
Prof. Shelton condemns Kentucky Blue 
Grass as not suited to the climate of the State 
except it may be the eastern portions where it 
thrives finely. Bermuda Grass is not injured 
by the Kansas Winter. He advises fanners 
to keep their farms clear of this grass which 
has some of the worst qualities of the most 
pernicious weeds. Timothy is of little value 
over a large portion of the State because it 
suffers from drought and the attacks of chinch 
hugs and grasshoppers. Finally Prof. Shelton 
remarks that w ith the single exception cf Al- 
Two years ago we quoted Prof. S. as 
falfa all grasses An clovers fail'in times’'of 
severe drought. 
SAMPLES AND COMMENTS, 
Ought a man to go farming who has little 
or no experience, and who may be 21, 30 or 40 
years old, asks the Western Rural ? We 
answer, “ It is never too late to try to do good. ’ 
A writer in the N. E. Homestead prefers 
to burn corn-cobs and .save the ashes for a fer¬ 
tilizer, rather than to feed them to his stock.. 
Potatoes when sprouting develop a poison¬ 
ous principle called by a Frenchman solauine, 
residing chiefly in the sprouts... 
Prof. S. R. Thompson of the Industrial 
College of Lincoln, Neb., states that in the 
Spring of 1881, 14 kinds of grass seeds were 
sown. Nearly all started, but the excessive 
drought of that season killed all but one. Or¬ 
chard Grass. At other times also this gross 
has showm an extraordinary power to resist 
the influence of drought. 
Puck calls Lydia Pinkham the Venus de 
Medicine,,..:... 
It also answers our query, “ How much will 
potatoes shrink from Fall till Spring,” as fol¬ 
lows: "That depends altogether upon the 
size of the family; give us an easier one.”. 
A writer in the N. Y. Tribune gives this 
good advice in two words how to cure an egg¬ 
eating hen—“ Eat her." ..... 
Another correspondent selects the Thorn 
(Crataegus) on which to graft the Quince. 
Thus lie escapes the borer. A correspondent 
suggested this more than a month ago in 
the Rural. 
T. T. Lyon says that comparatively few 
who grow peach trees have learned the law, 
that neither foliage nor fruit eau be produced 
from wood of more than a siugle year's growth. 
I UE KITT ATINNY BLACKHEHKY—FROM N.VTCRE—SEE 
Page 3is— Fig. its. 
that Orchard Grass was "one of the very best 
and safest of all the pasture grasses for Kan¬ 
sas.” The same must lie said of it with em¬ 
phasis. It has proved but an indifferent hay 
plant, yielding moderately upon ordinary 
soils; and the hay, when well secured, is not 
relished by cattle. But for pasture it is very 
different It germiuates about as easily as 
oats; and, with good seed, no difficulty is ex¬ 
perienced in getting a good “stand” that will 
endure moderate cropping the first Fall after 
seeding. As might be inferred from its com¬ 
mon name, it does best when moderately sha¬ 
ded, and is admirably suited to orchard culture; 
yet there are few grasses that will so well en¬ 
dure the prolonged sunshine of our dry seasons. 
For these reasons it is safe to recommend this 
grass to the farmers of Centra] Kansas for the 
purposes of pasture. It should, however, be 
remembered that Orchard Grass will not make 
a sod as Blue Grass does. It always grows iu 
tussocks or bunches; and, to counteract this 
tendency, seed should lie sown with a liberal 
hand. Not less than lL bushel of seed should 
bo sown per acre ; and two bushels would per- 
hajw lie better. Excellent results eau be ob- 
taiued by adding to the above three quarts of 
Red Clover seed. 
<Tl)f tOucvist 
[Every query must be accompanied by the uame 
and address of the writer to insure attention.] 
The best time to sow grass seed is, ho be¬ 
lieves, without any exception, in the Spring; 
and recent experiments show that tills work 
should not be undertaken too early in the sea¬ 
son. In the Spring of 1880, a field seeded early 
in April came to nothing, the violent, dry 
winds that followed the sowing completely 
sweeping the seed away. Seed sowed after 
the Spring rains have fairly set in has never 
failed siuoe 1874 to give a good stand of grass. 
the driven well, etc. 
T. .lf„ Rogersville, O. —1. What is the "driven 
well” referred to in the Rural. 2. My grafted 
cherry trees are all white with bloom every 
Spring, but for five years they have borne 
little or no fruit, how should they be treated 
to induce them to yield a crop? 
Ans, —1, The essentia] difference between 
the immemorial dug and artesiau wells and 
the modern "driven well” is that iu the two 
former the earth removed from the hole is 
brought to the surface, while in the last it is 
forced aside by a pointed drill driven down to 
the water-beariug strata. With a few rare 
exceptions, this drill consists of an appropriate 
length of wrought iron pipe perforated at 
the bottom, and tipped with an adjustable, 
conical point, having a short stem fitting into 
the tube and a circular shoulder projecting 
slightly beyond it. The entrance of sand 
through the perforations in The tube is pre¬ 
vented by wire gauze or minutely perforated 
sheet metal soldered outside or inside the lower 
end of the pipe. Wheu the perforated part has 
been submerged in the water-bearing strata, 
pump is attached to the upper end of the pipe, 
Prof. Shelton has reason to know that the 
complaint regarding the quality of grass seeds 
retailed iu the State is as just as it is universal. 
He has always sent to the large Eastern deal¬ 
ers for his grass seeds, and to Denver and San 
Francisco for Alfalfa seeds. This may not 
lie t he best plan, but.it has been satisfactory as 
to the quality of the seed procured and as to 
the pirice, which, including the freight, he has 
found to be considerably less than that asked 
by local dealers. 
A large proportion of those who attempt, 
to grow Alfalfa will fail in the first at¬ 
tempt. Let it. be emphasized—Alfalfa must 
have old, rich and well-drained land to begin 
with; and the freer this is from weeds the bet¬ 
ter. More acoounts are given of failure with 
Kansas. 
Parsons. Labette Co., March 31.—In my 
last I said it would doubtless prove that the 
early sown w heat would turn out the.best. It 
