INTENSIVE GRASS CULTURE. 
The Clark System Reviewed. 
I have an old meadow of natural grass land where the 
seeding has about run out. It cuts less than a ton to the 
acre. I am told that it can be reseeded this season by 
what is called the Clark system. What is this, and how 
can I handle my meadow so as to keep it in grass? 
New York. j. h. l. 
AN OLD STORY.—It is now about 20 years since 
we first went to Higganum, Conn., to see Geo. M. 
Clark’s grass field. Every year since there have been 
50 or more questions like the above. We have tried 
to make a new story of 
it each time. Mr. Clark, 
who died several years 
ago, raised over six tons 
of well-dried hay on a 
measured acre, and kept 
up the yield for years. 
His “system” had three 
legs to stand on—thor¬ 
ough preparation of the 
soil, heavy seeding, and 
heavy fertilizing. Of 
course he had good 
grass land to start with. 
His hay field was orig¬ 
inally a rocky New Eng¬ 
land pasture. The rocks 
were blown out, the 
briers and bushes dug, 
the old sod killed, and 
the surface levelled. This 
was the Clark system 
you have heard about.. 
AN OLD MEADOW. 
—Had he started with 
your meadow Mr. Clark 
would have proceeded 
about as follows: The 
first thing is to kill outr 
the old sod of coarse 
grass and weeds and 
start a clean new mea¬ 
dow. Clark would have 
started last Spring— 
broken up the sod and 
seeded to oats. These 
would have been cut in 
late June for hay. The 
object of this is to ob¬ 
tain more hay than the 
natural grass would 
give, and have more 
time to break up the sod. 
After these oats were 
cut Clark broke up the 
stubble as you can break 
the sod. He did not use 
the turning plow. That, he claimed, turned the sod 
over out of sight and also out of reach of ordinary 
tools. You might fit the upturned bottom of this 
furrow and make it look clean and nice, but that old 
sod, full of grass and weed roots and seeds, was sure 
to come to life later and dominate the new seeding. 
Clark’s first proposition therefore was to kill this 
sod—not hide it. Thus, instead of turning it under, 
lie used a Cutaway disk harrow. This gave an action 
the reverse of plowing—tearing and tossing the sod, 
not in strips as the plow does, but in slices and chunks. 
Once over gave a tough-looking, uneven surface, but 
Clark kept at it again and again, working first one 
way, then another, and then in a third direction. As 
often as any green growth made a showing the Cut¬ 
away started once more. The object was to toss and 
turn those old plants up to the air and sunshine, where 
they would be killed. Of course this is opposed to 
the theory of keeping the land full of humus, for this 
constant stirring destroyed the organic matter. But 
Clark got the grass through this constant tillage, and 
we are simply telling how he did it. 
A THOROUGH JOB.—At that time the double¬ 
action Cutaway had not been invented. With that tool 
a quicker and better job can be done. You can plow 
THE HEAD OF AN IDEAL DRIVING HORSE. Fig 
the meadow at once, then put three good horses on the 
Cutaway, weight it down and start across the fur¬ 
rows. I his will tear up the sod and give the results 
which Clark was after. At least 16 thorough workings 
after plowing at intervals before the middle of Sep¬ 
tember will be needed to follow out Clark’s full plan. 
In connection with this thorough working, Clark used 
a scraper and a light harrow to give a good level and 
grade, and wipe the trash off the field. There must 
be no places where water will stand in puddles, for 
there the young grass will die out and you cannot get 
a full yield unless every square foot is covered. 
When this system started it was not known that lime 
is essential in reforming these old meadows. Now 
we know it, and it should be considered a part of the 
method to spread at least one ton of burnt lime on 
each acre—having it thoroughly worked in. Clark 
put lime at intervals on top of the sod, but this is not 
equal in effect to working it in when seeding. 
HEAVY SEEDING.—The worst enemy we have 
found in following the Clark plan is the tendency of 
most workmen to say “that’s good enough” long be¬ 
fore the job is done. Few farmers, during a busy 
season, would have the patience to work a field 16 
times in six weeks and then spend more time grading 
and making the surface 
true. Yet that is part of 
Clark’s plan. As to seed¬ 
ing, Clark argued that 
he was fitting the soil 
for six to eight years’ 
work, therefore he might 
well afford to spend 
thrice the time on a field 
that would be spent on a 
. meadow seeded for two 
years in a regular rota¬ 
tion. He used the same 
argument for seed and 
seeding. No nurse crop 
was wanted—the grass 
seed went in alone. 
When wheat or rye is 
used with grass the 
grain plants occupy about 
half the ground. When 
the grain is cut this 
means that half the acre 
is left bare. If this bare 
ground were put to¬ 
gether it would leave 
half the field by itself, 
but being scattered all 
over in little patches like 
the palm of your hand 
you do not notice the 
loss until you find that 
three tons of hay is the 
limit. You will see that 
when Clark cut six tons 
he may have had no bet¬ 
ter grass plants than 
yours, but he had twice 
as many by having the 
soil all covered. There 
is no use expecting Red- 
top or Timothy grass to 
spread out and cover the 
bare spots. So Clark 
used 15 quarts each of 
Timothy and Red - top 
seed to the acre. This 
seed was sown separately, going twice each way, 
or four times over to get all the seed on. This thick 
and even seeding was considered so necessary that it 
was all done by hand, the workers traveling through 
narrow strips marked off by lines. The result was a 
seeding so even that practically every square inch had 
its seeds. A very light harrow was used to work the 
seed into the soil without dragging it too much. If 
possible the seed was scattered just before a light 
rain in early September. That is the time Nature 
naturally does her grass seeding. As a result of all 
this the grass came up like a well-seeded lawn and 
made a thick mat before Winter. 
367. 
