4i8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 26 
suits. The second year comes and no grass. It is 
laid to the hard winter, or to the section of the coun¬ 
try, which they say seldom makes a good stand, and 
the field is torn up again for better luck. Thousands 
of farmers have told me this story. Had they known 
what 1 know about grass, or would believe what I 
tell them, they would not wonder at their failures. 
They would have known at the start that grass will 
not grow from the second seeding ; that the first seed 
sown takes the field, even if sown within 10 days 
after the first seeding. Only last season, I tried a 
field that had been seeded but a week with 14 quarts 
each of Timothy and Red-top, 28 quarts to the acre. 
The work bad not been satisfactorily done. It was 
reseeded, putting 28 quarts more to each acre ; remem¬ 
ber, 28 quarts of Timothy and 28 quarts of Red-top 
on to each acre within 10 days, and yet there was not 
a full stand. The first 28 quarts not properly sown 
captured t^e field ; few if any plants ever came fiom 
the second seeding. In fact, it was bunch grass. A 
third of the field was bare. All should be sown at 
one time ; no second seeding, whether sown in a week 
or five years, will succeed. 
Best Method of Sowing Grass Seed. —When the 
field has been plowed, harrowed and cultivated at 
least 25 times, and made as soft as an ash bed six or 
seven inches deep, and the surface made as true as a 
mill pond, with every living vegetable above the sub¬ 
soil killed, you can safely sow 14 quarts each of 
Timothy and Red-top upon each acre. It is better to 
sow each kind of seed separately, for the reason that 
different seeds vary in weight, and in sowing, will 
not sow evenly together. Sow only one kind of grass 
seed at one time, 
and for the pur¬ 
pose of greater 
accuracy, I sow 
my field twice 
over with each 
kind of seed. 
When sowing 
grass, I use two 
lines. They are 
pulled across the 
field at each half 
rod ; one of these 
lines is cut and 
looped together 
every four rods. 
The user should 
make no mistake. 
When the lines 
are thus drawn 
8H feet apart, 
seven quarts of 
Timothy seed are 
divided into 80 
equal parts ; one 
part is spread as 
evenly as pos¬ 
sible on to the 
first two rods, 
and thus the 
work goes on un¬ 
til the field has 
been once gone 
over. Then the lines are drawn across the field 
in the opposite direction, and the other half of the 
seed is sown. Usually, I have one man to sow each 
kind of seed, and a third man to sow fertilizers, so 
that the lines are drawn across the field but twice. 
The fertilizer is divided and sown in the same 
manner as the grass seed, thus more evenly distrib¬ 
uted. When the sowing is completed, a fine-toothed 
harrow is drawn across the field in the direction of 
each quarter in half-lap, thus double harrowing the 
field in the four directions. Eight times the field is 
harrowed with this fine-toothed harrow. The teeth 
are less than one inch apart; they are gauged to 
penetrate the earth but 1 to 1% inch, according to 
the moisture. With perfect grading, this can be done. 
In drawing this fine-toothed harrow eight times 
across the field, every square inch of land is harrowed 
with eight different teeth, which most thoroughly 
distributes the seed and fertilizer. It also works the 
seed down to the water line, and kills out all other 
vegetation. In fact, the grass seed has the first 
chance. When the work is thus done, a field roller is 
used to finish. 
The Time of Seeding is Also Important. —Nature 
tells its own tale. Grass seed, in this latitude, ma¬ 
tures in August and, if sown at or near the time it 
matures, we get the best results. The field to be 
sown should be made perfect in form, and the seed 
well put in, and if possible, all other vegetation kept 
out. If it is well to sow grain with grass, why not 
have an all-’round general crop ? Suppose we try an 
acre next spring. Sow grass, oats, barley, corn, cow 
peas, beans, potatoes, onions, in fact plant and sow 
100 kinds of different vegetation on the acre, and then 
watch results. What will people say ? Why, they 
will say we are children, or idiots. One crop is all 
that we can raise at a time to advantage, particularly 
if it be grass. Sow it September 1, and cut it June 
25 to July 1. Last summer, my best acre, first crop, 
cut in June, 285 days after sowing, yielded 12,340 
pounds ; next best acre, 11,955 pounds ; average on 
the best six acres, 10,777 pounds; 64,662 pounds of 
well-dried hay taken in one crop from six acres of 
land seeded less than 10 months before the grass was 
cut. Let him who will, sow grain with grass, but I 
have no use for that method. 
The Crop Should be Secured in Season. —My 
grandfather, his sons and grandsons before 1860, cut 
their grass with hand scythes. The haying began in 
July and ended in September. They commenced 
mowing at 4 A. m., and mowed all the spare time from 
that on, whether morning or evening. In the 60’s, 
good power mowers came. They were then worth 
$150 each, but competition has now cut the price to 
$50, and we all have them. When we have heavy 
grass, three to six tons per acre, it is well to com¬ 
mence mowing on a clear morning about June 25, or 
when the blossoms begin to show. Grass cut just as 
soon as the seed begins to mature, while it will not 
weigh quite so heavy, makes softer, sweeter hay and 
is less woody, and if well cured and recured, worth 
much more money. There is also another fact worth 
knowing, if you desire to cut a second crop—the grass 
roots at that early stage have not yet completed their 
work ; their mission was to grow a top and mature 
the seed upon it, but when cut off just before the seed 
matures, they make another grand rush to complete 
their work before the season closes. Hence, a much 
larger second crop can be secured by cutting the first 
early. 
To Cut and Cure Heavy Grass. —At 7:30, start 
the mower, following with hand-turning the cut grass 
off the standing grass as fast as cut. The fourth 
round, start the hay tedder ; keep that running full 
time until 2:30, turning the hay by hand at 11 and 1, 
then rake and heap and nicely trim each as quickly 
as possible—the larger the heaps the better. If 
likely to rain, put 1,000 to 1,500 pounds in a heap 
while hot, thus keep up the sweat. Open next morn¬ 
ing as soon as the dew is off. Tedder four times be¬ 
fore 1, and turn twice by hand, when, if the weather 
be good, it will be ready for the barn. You will be 
surprised to find how fast grass, handled in this man¬ 
ner, will turn into well-cured hay. The tedder forks, 
while they do not break the body of the grass, bend 
and open the woody crust, thus give vent to the cen¬ 
tral steam, allowing it to escape freely. Heaping up 
the hay while hot continues the sweat through the 
night, and if heaped up very large, a much larger 
percent of it is kept hot, and it will resist a storm 
much better. With the lesser surface of the one 
great heap, and more heat, the outside water will be 
thrown off. Some use caps to cover their heaps. 
They are good, but if a storm is to come, give me 
the 1,500-pound heap, rather than the small heap and 
the hay cap. A rain storm of a day or two cuts no 
figure with 1,500-pound heaps, and on heavy grass, 
one doesn’t have far to go to find one. Always in 
turning by hand, shake and spread all wet or green 
locks upon the surface. With a quick-moving horse, 
an acre can be teddered in 20 minutes, 
Many people desire to know what tools are best to 
use in this thorough farming. Use any tools that 
will accomplish the results in the best manner and 
shortest time. I use the Tornado Cutaway plow, 
Cutaway harrows and eight-foot smoothing harrow 
to pulverize the ground, and a smoothing harrow and 
a common field roller to put in the seed. When the 
crop is grown, I use a Walter A. Wood mower, a 
Spicer tedder, and a Monitor horse rake. When the 
hay reaches the barn, it is drawn up with a harpoon 
fork upon the mow. As to this fork, the next one I 
get will be of the broad-jawed, open-and-shut kind. 
I want the hay I take hold off to go upon the mow. 
I want no more harpoons. george m clark. 
Connecticut. 
RAPE AS PASTURE FOR HOGS. 
PROMOTES HEALTH AND SAVES GRAIN. 
The Wisconsin Experiment Station (Madison) has 
given a good deal of attention to the important 
matter of providing soiling crops for live stock. The 
last few years of terrible drought have taught farm¬ 
ers the absolute necessity of providing some culti¬ 
vated substitute for pasture grass. The differerce 
between the grass crop on a worn-out meadow, and 
the crop of corn or millet that can be produced from 
that same old sod with careful cultivation's enormous. 
The plan of plowing the old meadows, seeding to 
some usetul plant, cutting the crop and carrying it to 
the cattle in the stable, is gaining ground every¬ 
where. Well it may, for this plan enables two cows 
to feed where one fed before, makes the land earn 
better wages for 
the farmer, and 
makes a better 
1 ooking and 
richer farm. 
Among other 
crops tried at the 
Wisconsin Sta¬ 
tion during the 
past few years, 
is the Dwarf Es¬ 
sex fodder rape. 
Bulletin No. 58 
gives an account 
of the latest ex¬ 
periments witb 
this plant. We 
have given re¬ 
ports of former 
experiments ; we 
wish now par¬ 
ticularly to call 
attention to a 
new use for the 
rape, namely, 
that of pasturing 
hogs. Fig. 177 
shows a field of 
rape containing 
three-fifths of an 
acre. This pro¬ 
vided rough fod¬ 
der for 19 hogs 
for seven weeks. These 19 hogs gained during the 
seven weeks 1,C66 pounds, or 7.9 pounds per head 
weekly. In addition to the green rape, these hogs 
received 2,220.3 pounds of corn, and 1.109 pounds of 
shorts. To show how much of this gain may fairly 
be attributed to the rape, another lot of 19 hogs of 
about the same grade, were put in pens for seven 
weeks. During that time, they consumed 3,106.5 
pounds of corn and 1,553 pounds of shorts. They 
gained 1,076 pounds during the seven weeks. It will 
be seen, therefore, that the three-fifths of an acre of 
rape, was worth about 1,330 pounds of grain, as the 
gain of both lots was about the same. This is a 
good illustration of the value of rape for hog pasture. 
The picture shows a field when the hogs had about 
eaten the rape down. At the right and left are shown 
sections of a portable fence that has been frequently 
described in The R. N.-Y. 
This experiment shows that rape is likely to prove 
a valuable feed for hogs. It is well Known that sheep 
will eat this plant greedily. There is less risk in 
feeding it to swine than to sheep, as the former will 
not bloat on it or scour if properly fed. The grain 
fed to the hogs in the pens, was in the proportion of 
two parts soaked corn and one part shorts. Rape is, 
evidently, especially valuable for late summer or 
early fall hog pasture. At that season of the year, 
swine are liable to have fevers, cholera and other dis¬ 
eases, and as a rule, grass pastures are dry at that 
season. A succulent crop like rape will add greatly 
to the thrift and vigor of the swine, and, thereby, 
lessen the losses so likely to occur during the summer 
months. 
A few points regarding the seeding and growth of 
THIRD CUTTING FROM RATE FIELD ; THIRTY TONS GREEN FODDER PER ACRE. Fig. 178. 
