SEEDING A PERMANENT MEADOW. 
The “ Clark ” Plan Detailed. 
I have some land that I would like to get in grass. 
This land is rolling and is surrounded with wet mea¬ 
dows and always holds the moisture well. It has not 
been worked for 10 to 15 years and is not now in with 
grass, but has grown up with weeds, wild grass, and 
running dewberry vines. The land is of a clayey na¬ 
ture and is very mellow. Would it be prudent to use 
lime as a fertilizer and sow rye and Timothy seed this 
Fall? My object is to get this land in Timothy if pos¬ 
sible and not to pasture it but to use it for meadow 
purposes. The land has never been worked much, but 
has just beeu allowed to go back neglected without seed, 
etc. If advisable to use lime, how many bushels per 
acre should be used? c. 
New Jersey. 
You do not say how much land there is or whether 
you can spend a fair amount of capital in starting 
see this stuff it is there, still alive, since many of 
such plants sprout from the root joints. The more 
you bury them the more they grow. The only way 
to kill such trash out is to cut or rip the roots out 
and drag or toss them to the surface where air and 
sun will finish them. The disk plow or harrow 
tosses or shakes up the soil while the spring-tooth 
tears out the roots. These tools are better for such 
work than the turning plow or 
I)o not think you can plow this k 
times and then have it ready 
might grow cow peas that 
but permanent grass must 
order to stay permanent, 
to work that field at least 15 
in September if you expect to 
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uid. har/eyfcsR a few 
for, seedkngN. You 
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into such depressions will pay big wages. With a 
regular scraper or a heavy plank on edge with 
handles to hold it down, or even a plank drag, a 
man and good team can grade these little hollows 
so that water will not stand. The ideal lawn or 
meadow has a smooth, level surface with a gentle 
grade so that the surface water will run off. You 
want the soil well supplied with moisture, but water 
must not stand on the surface. After this grading 
keep the harrows going again until time for seeding. 
This varies somewhat, but Nature’s time in your 
latitude is in late August or early September. That 
is when the ripe grass seeds are usually shed for 
seeding. Try to get the seed in before September 15 
if the weather is favorable. This means just before 
or during a gentle rain. We cannot always strike 
Fourth 
"THE 
Brize Picture in 
FIRST LESSON IX MILKING.” 
Illustrations of Scenes from "The Child. 
such a meadow. In giving the following advice we 
assume that you can put some money into the job. 
'Hie ideal permanent meadow ought to be handled 
like a lawn. This lawn is expected to stand 10 
years or more and we make the soil rich and sweet, 
tfive it a tine lifting and grade and seed heavily with 
a \aiiety of grasses. The field you mention is thin 
and sour. If you were a month earlier we would 
ud\ise plowing or disking, using a ton or 3,000 
pounds of lime and seeding to buckwheat, this buck¬ 
wheat to be plowed under in August to add organic 
matter to the soil. It is now tot) late for that 
and we would try what is called the “Clark” sys- 
tem - r Fl‘ls means such a thorough working of the 
laml a N foul growth will be thrown to the sur- 
lace and killed. You must kill out these weeds and 
mm , oi they will come back later and spoil your 
permanent meadow. 
Slai ’t at once breaking up that field. A heavy disk 
01 cut away will be better than a plow for this pur- 
1 s <. . I he plow turns the weeds and trash over— 
out of sight under the furrow. While you cannot 
for you must remember that you are starting with 
the poorest foundation for grass. This thin and 
sour old field cannot be made into a meadow unless 
you spend time and money upon it. Nature would 
fill it slowly with organic matter and work it over 
until it was lit for grass. This would require years. 
If you expect to do it in one season you must pay' 
for it. 
M lien you first plow or disk this field spread one 
ton or 3,0(X) pounds of slaked lime per acre on the 
rough furrows. Make an even distribution and 
then start the harrowing. This will work the lime 
thoroughly all over and into the soil. Do not let 
any green growth start on this field, but harrow con¬ 
stantly. ton will turn up loads of quack grass and 
brier roots. Drag them off and burn them and pick 
up as many of the stones as you can. About the 
middle of August go over the field and watch for 
little hollows‘or places where water might stand. 
These might permit a little pond of water to stand 
and freeze and in that case grass would be killed 
out. A day or two spent in grading or scraping 
” Fig. 317. 
it just right, but it is better to wait a little longer 
rather than to put the seed into an ash-dry soil. 
Do not sow rye with the grass seed if you are after 
a permanent lawn or meadow. Every rye plant will 
occupy' space which ought to be covered with grass, 
but the spaces will not all be occupied except bv 
weeds if you leave the rye in. Most farmers do not 
sow enough grass seed. We would use at least 15 
quarts each of Timothy and Red-top per acre. Bet¬ 
ter take time to make three or four seedings of this, 
going over in different directions so that every 
square foot may receive its seeds. Cover the seed 
with a light harrow or brush drag. 
A natural park or permanent meadow would have 
soil that is sweet, open, full of humus and with 
abundant plant food. You have made your sour 
and thin soil sweet by using lime and open and 
clean by intense culture. The grass roots as they 
grow must provide the humus and under your con¬ 
ditions you must supply the plant food in chemi¬ 
cals. You must do everything you can to start that 
grass into a quick and steady growth this Fall. One 
