The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-04-27
Pastures and Meadows.
by PROFESSOR W. j. BEAL.
From the forthcoming report of the
Michigan Board of Agriculture.
NATIVE AND FOREIGN GRASSES.

NATIVE AND FOREIGN GRASSES.
Some people think we should use
only the grasses native to our coun-
try. But by a moments thought
on this we see that such grasses are
not necessarily the best because
they are natives. Foreign plants
and foreign insects often thrive bet
ter than our cultivated ones. i
need only refer to the thriftiness of
the imported cooling moth, weevil,
and Hcssian fly, and to most of the
worst weeds in our gardens and
fields. Almost any farm in the
State containing variety of soil
will be found to grow already as
many as SO or more species of grass.
On the farm of the agricultural
college, saying nothing about the
experimental plats, have found
about rs species, besides the cereals
and clovcrs. There are probably
growing wild in the State, at pres
ent, about 115 species. These
grasses make their own selection of
place, and from this circumstance
We can learn useful lesson: "Somc
prefer low, wet situations, others
grow only on dry ground; some pre-
fer the shade of forest trees, while
others flourish best Oh the most ex-
posed parts of the broad prairics;
some only grow in the water, others
along the margins of lakes and
streams; some attain their maturity
early in the season, others late in
autumn" -L. Il. Lapham. Some
OF the grasses are our vilest weeds,
as chess in our fields of wheat, barn
yard grass, and finger grass, and
several known as pigeon grass, and
hair-grass, and others.
l wish | were able to tell you
just which grasses are the best to
raise in every case, but this will
probably never be donc,-at least,
not for many years yet. Nothing
can be done which will release cv-
cry farmer from experimenting on
his own ground. No chemist can
or ever will be able to analyze a
handful of his soil and tell him just
what is the best thing to put on it.
We are experimenting with a large
number Of species, $50 or more, on
a small scale, and are just about to
try some of the more prominent
ones on larger scale. lam often
asked the merits of this or that
grass. l advise thinking men to
try a large number of sorts and
watch the results; but try them on
a small scale at first. DO not mis-
take me in advising to try all the
new grasses to be had. Many do
not half use what they have already.
l would be far from advising any
man to pay large prices for fancy
stocks and make them mean scrubs
by taking no care of them. Ihave
seen too much money fooled away
in such spcculations. Better farm
ing is one Of our greatest needs.
Seeds of new grasses arc high and
hard to get; and with no experience
it would not pay to invest largely;
but l am sure it is safe to start on
II small scale and raise your own
seeds and watch the result. Give
all of them good fair chance be-
fore condemning them as worthless.
Some seedsmen try to be very ac-
commodating and sell several kinds,
each from the same barrel, as pure
and unauthorized. Experiments
are needed to try to improve our
best species of grass. This has
been done in England to some cx-
tent upon rye grass, orchard grass,
and others, until, in some cases,
varieties have been originated as
unlike each other as are our varie-
ties of wheat among each other.
They differ as much as pop corn
differs from sweet corn or dent corn,
or as much as these differ among
each other. Homegrown grass
seeds are better for us than those
grown in England. They are more
likely to grow. They have become