Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-01-11
Earn AND ElREslDE.
clever seeding.

How can get a goou cat;a vi cio'ei
seed? When should sow, early or late!
() How much seed per acre-what is
the very best mode of treatment after
sowing? ~ Do any decided benefits
result from narrowing with Tomas
Smoothing harrow after sowing to cover
the seed +? If. so, give US the exact
modus operasdi. (3) Getting good set
ofclover is matter Of vital importance
to the farmer, as missing it is equal to
the total loss of almost any other crop.
H..w. Il. The first important requisite
for obtaining successful termination of
the seed, is good soil with smooth,
mellow surface. 1t should be rich, if
possible, to give the young plants
good start; and hence top-dressing
of fine manure. broken up and worked
slightly into the surface soil with a brush
or smoothing harrow, is an excellent
preparation. A fine, mellow surface,
without the top-dressing, IS incompar-
ably better than hard or cloldy ground.
The time for sowing is early spring if
the seed is not brushed in, it is often
successfully sown on March snow
Freezing and thawing as spring ap-
proaches serve to work the seed into
the soil, and this is greatly facilitated if
followed by rain. As we cannot control
the weather, there is always uncer-
tainty Of success but when all circum-
stances happen to be favorable. seed
thus treated produces fine, dense crop,
as the seeds, although covered, are
never buried deep by the process, and
all have fair chance to grow, for
if buried much deeper than half an inch,
the young plants are not likely to reach
the surface. 2. The quantity Of seed
may vary with the chances of its grow
ing peck on fine. mellow, rich sur
face, properly covered. would be bette,
than bushel on hard or cloddy piece
of land. The common practice with
good farmers is to SOW about one peck
some who mix largely of timothy SOW
only half peck; but experience indi-
Gates that even half a bushel per acre
pays better, IN the heavy, dense, uniform
crop which follows. Ifyou refer in the
treatment after sowing" to the
management of the crop after it is up,
we answer, SOW bushel Of plaster OF
gypsum on the clover when few inches
high, aud the same annually afterwards
This dressing of plaster may be given
in early summer if the clover has beer
sown alone or with no grain orop; CT
soon after harvest if seeded with whea
Or other grain. The subsequent dress
ing should be in spring. 3. On the
whole, we have been most uniformly
successful in seeding with the use of the
Smoothing harrow, in which case the
seed is not sown so early as otherwise
This harrow prepares in the first place {
smooth, even, mellow surface, on which
the seed is sown; and after sowing it
it passes over and gives the seed very
shallow covering. The result is les;
affected by circumstances Or by wet o.
dry weather. Different modes have
been tried with this implement, and al
have done well. One mode has beer
to SOW the seed alone, as soon as tht
soil could be prepared in spring anothe
has been to run the harrow over
thinly sown crop Of oats, when few
inches high, sowing the clover seed ant
narrowing it at this time; and thir.
has been to harrow wheat three times,
week apart, and SOW and cover tn
clover seed at the third narrowing, whel
the wheat was foot high. This ha
given better crop Of clover than Marcl
seeding in the usual way. l-Amertcay
Agrtculturss.