JOSEPH BRECK & SONS 
(Corporation) 
M5 
ALTERNATE HUSBANDRY 
All mixtures for Alternate Husbandry should include, 
say for one or two years* lay, only annual and biennial 
or other sorts that attain full maturity within that 
period; for two or three years* lay a greater quantity 
of seed is required, which should embrace a larger 
proportion of permanent sorts, so that the places of 
the dead annual kinds may be filled by the varieties 
that are of slower growth. 
If a mixture principally for mowing is intended to 
lay more than three or four years, especial care is 
necessary in selecting and adjusting the several varie¬ 
ties of grasses in proper proportion. A three or four 
years* lay sown with grasses that are only of annual 
or biennial duration must be either very thin or foul 
at the end of the period for which it was laid down — 
the spaces vacated by the annual and biennial grasses 
being in all likelihood occupied by objectionableweeds, 
when, if a proper selection of those species capable of 
lasting the whole of the desired period were sown, 
the lay would remain full of plants, free from 
weeds, and, in consequence, would be very much 
more profitable during the whole time the land is in 
grass. 
The practice of mowing grass for hay when the 
plants are in blossom is acknowledged to be a good 
one, in that it is not so exhausting to the soil, and a 
more succulent hay, freer from dust, is obtained; it 
has however, from the fact that all natural reseeding 
is prevented, a tendency to weaken the plants and 
reduce their number; hence, when we see an old field 
of grass that was originally sown with Timothy, Red- 
top and Clover, and which has been mowed, perhaps, 
twice annually, we can readily account for either the 
enormous number of weeds or vacant places that are 
sure to be noticeable. Our system of mixture practi¬ 
cally overcomes this difficulty by the continued growth 
and stooling out of some of the varieties included that 
do not attain full maturity under four to six years 
Such mixtures, although in the first place more expen¬ 
sive than the ordinary orthodox seeding, are in the 
end more profitable; we have seen aftermaths from 
permanent mowing mixtures that more than equalled 
first crops of Timothy. 
While it is true that the mixtures which we recom¬ 
mend are seemingly much more expensive than those 
commonly used, it should be borne in mind that a 
vastly increased value is given to the pasture not only 
for one year, but if the land is properly cared for it 
will remain in good condition for fifteen or twenty 
years without further sowing, and produce double the 
amount of fodder, while the ordmary sowing has to be 
repeated every three or four years; thus, in the end, 
costing more than four times as much as what would 
be paid originally for the proper mixture. 
Breck’s Special Mixtures for Permanent Pastures 
Table showing the proper quantities to Sow on an Acre of Light, Medium or Heavy Soils, for Permanent Pasture. 
Kind 
No. 1 
Light Soils 
No. 2 
Medium 
Soils 
No. 3 
Heavy Soils 
No. 4 
For Orchard* 
and shady 
places 
Timothy .... 
Pkleutn pratense 
2 lbs. 
3 lbs. 
4 lbs. 
3 lbs. 
Red Top .... 
Agrostis vulgaris 
4 “ 
4 “ 
6 “ 
3 “ 
Orchard Grass 
Dactyl is glow era ta 
8 “ 
6 “ 
4 “ 
0 44 
Meadow Fescue 
Festuca pratensis 
2 “ 
2 “ 
1* “ 
Hard Fescue 
Festuca duriuscula 
_ 
1 “ 
2 44 
2 44 
Tall Fescue .... 
Festuca el at i or . 
2 44 
2 “ 
4 “ 
1 44 
Blue Grass .... 
Poa pratensis 
4 “ 
4 “ 
2 “ 
5 44 
Rough Stalked Meadow 
Poa trivial is 
_ 
2 “ 
4 “ 
6 44 
Perennial Rye Grass 
Lolium ferenne 
2 “ 
3 “ 
3 “ 
Meadow Foxtail 
Alopecuris pratensis . 
1 “ 
2 “ 
2 “ 
2 44 
Crested Dogstail . 
Cynosurus crista/us . 
2 “ 
1 " 
1 “ 
4 44 
Wood Meadow 
Poa nemoralis . 
1 “ 
1 “ 
Yellow Oat Grass 
Arena flavescens 
2 “ 
1 “ 
_ 
Sweet Vernal 
A nthoxa nth um odor a turn 
2 “ 
1 “ 
_ 
White Clover 
Trifolium repens 
4 “ 
4 “ 
4 “ 
5 44 
Alsike Clover 
Trifolium hybridum . 
1 “ 
1 “ 
± “ 
Perennial Red Clover . 
Trifolium pratense peren 
tie 
2 “ 
3 “ 
3 “ 
3 44 
39 lbs. 
41 lbs. 
41 lbs. 
40 lbs. 
Price per acre, F. O. B. Boston. 
(bags extra at value) 
17.00 
17.25 
17.00 
16.50 
For fre^ delivery offers and general instructions regarding orders and shipments see third page of cover 
