Nebraska advertiser., 1857-04-16
farn9rs 9qartnrnt.
on THE YTTALTTY oF GRAss SGD.
From the country Gentleman.

ON THE VITALITY OF GRASS SEED.
The question is often asked, and
many times By those who are esteemed
the wisest and best Of farmers-'1s
a seed and clover seed, (which is
more than one, two, or three years old,
Just as good as seed only one year
old?"
By many it is believed that there is
really no difference in seed, whether It
is D or four years old; and it would
seem that when proper q T is exer-
cised in securing such seed, not suffer
ing it to be injured by storms, nor to
heat in the NOW before it is cleaned
from the chat, it would be good seed,
and vegetate well even when it is a
few wears old. Wehaye always thought,
until recently, that old seed was as
good as new, and have many times
sown clover and timothy seed which
was more than a year old, but have
noticed almost invariably, that such
seeddid not seem to sake we'll; and,
not thinking that the seed wasnot good
we have attributed such failure to the
unfavorable condition Of the soil-that
it was covered too deep, o%rnotcovered
at all with earth. But I have always
had good success in seeding land, in
both fall and winter, when IhaYe used
fresh seed. I have observed many
times that those farmers who contend
that old seed is just as good as new,
and who are in the habit Of sowingold
seed, frequently complain that their
grass does not seem to take well.
AS every farmer should, if possible,
raise his own grass seed, We have been
accustomed every year to select some
of the best portions Of our meadow
and let it ripen for seed. In 1849 We
saved about two acres of timothy grass;
and as it yielded several bushels more
than we wanted to SOW in one season,
it was kept in barrels in the granary.
The seed soWn in 1850 took well. In
1851 we soEed about one bushel Of
the same kind of seed, and were much
surprised to find that but a small por-
ton Of the sown ever came up. Not
having occasion to use the remainder
of the seed, it was kept until the spring
Of 1855, when we sowed about two
bushels Of it, and none of it grew
The cause Of failure was thought to be
the universal dryness of the soil. In
the spring of 1856 from one to two
bushels moro we're sown, but none Of
it vegitated; and in September last
abont two bushels more were soKn
after wheat on summer fallow, where
the soil was very mellow and moist,
and as favorable as a soil could be fo1
seed Of any kind, and not one single
spire can be found which has sprung
from the seed s6Rn at that time.
In a few instances, IN years gone by,
we have sown turnip seed which was
from two to three years old; and from
such seed we never obtained many
turnips while from new seed they
were almost always apt to stand too
thick.
In the spring of 1853, we uset
carrot seed which was three years old
and not one seed,in.one hundred vege
tated. In the spring of 1856, we use(
carrot seed two years old; andin som,
rows Of one hundred feet long, Their,
would be but six, eight or ten carrots
and not one-tenth part Of the seed il
all the rows, ever came up In tn
spring of 1856 I soWed a paper o
carrot seed, which we have goodreasol
to believe was old seed, and the resul
was, we did not raise one single carrot
What the experience of others ma,
be on this subject, lam not ablet0 say
but what have penned I knew to b
veritable truth and, furthermore,
know that the cause of failure was i
the seed, and not in the unfayorable
ness of the sell. And if such shoul
be the result with oldseed on myfarn
may We not safely conclude that whe
a failure has been attributed to a poo
and barren soil in many instances, til
fault was in the seed? We know thu
grass seed is kept on hand many time
by proprietors of agricultural see
stores, until it is several years oil
anditis no ncOmmonthing for countr
merchants to keep clover and timOth
seed from year to year, and sell sue
for fresh seed and if my seed shoul
lose its vitality in so short a period
time, it would seem to be the dictat
of sound wisdom for every farmer I
raise his own seed from year to yea
or SOW none except that which is know
20 be the product Of the pre3ior
season.
HOW 10 MAKE PORK.