FITTING SOUTHERN SOIL FOR GRASS. 
Thorough Tillage Needed. 
On page 1293 of last year’s volume we printed an 
article by Mr. Edwin Earle of Virginia on growing 
grass at the South. There have boon so many questions 
for more detailed statements about preparing the land 
that Mr. Earle has answered them in the following. 
Preliminary to putting a field in grass we in¬ 
variably plow deeply during the'Fall and Winter, 
whenever the surface will admit, regardless of mois¬ 
ture in the land, as the frost can be depended upon 
and worked four or live times we usually broad¬ 
cast peas and give the corn its last cultivation. The 
peas are disked into the land thoroughly,' as soon as 
the corn is in the shock and the field is then sown to 
either wheat or oats. 
When the grain is off in the following Summer, 
we again break with the disk plow, getting every 
inch of depth possible and following with drag. As 
soon thereafter as is convenient we start a proces¬ 
sion of disk harrow, roller and smoothing harrow 
until practically every lump has been worked out 
sown later across the first sowing, and in this last 
sowing we usually mix about four pounds per acre 
of inoculated Alfalfa seed, our aim being to provide 
an Alfalfa inoculation in every field. The field is 
then rolled and we leave it. 
This method has given us splendid results, the 
only variation is in the number of times we go over 
the field in our preparation. This depends so largely 
on the season and the character and condition of 
the soil, no set rule can be followed. I believe it 
is not possible to overdo tillage, and were it always 
CAN I GO WITH YOU, MY PRETTY MAID?” ‘‘NOBODY ASKED YOU, SIR,” SHE SAID. Fig. 23. 
to put it in good condition for ordering in the 
Spring. One of the great advantages in a disk plow 
is the scraper, which keeps the disks clear, no matter 
what the consistency of the soil may be. In the 
Spring we drag the land and at this stage generally 
distribute our limestone and disk it into the soil; 
the final ordering we postpone until we are prepar¬ 
ing to sow corn, save that in the event of very heavy 
rains we may break the crust with either disk or 
spring-tooth harrow. When corn has been planted 
and the seed bed well compacted. We then leave the 
field for the weed and grass seeds to germinate by 
repeated cultivation after showers, and in the eradi¬ 
cation of new growth the soil is kept well stirred. 
In the final ordering the various machines go back 
and forth until the soil is as fine as we can get it. 
We then broadcast our fertilizer with the lime dis¬ 
tributor. This machine is 10 feet wide, and is fol¬ 
lowed by a seed broadcasting machine of the same 
width, sowing half of the seed, the remainder being 
practical I would never sow a grass seed until I 
had a perfect dust mulch. I also attach great im¬ 
portance to deep plowing for all crops, but before 
seeding to grasses, clovers or small grain, the seed 
bed should be thoroughly compacted. 
Were it possible to command the weather. I would 
always sow my grasses soon after a shower, and 
provide a gentle rain to follow the planting. If. 
however, I can have the moisture but once, I prefer 
it immediately after the seeding. As a measure of 
