The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1879-06-12

AND USEFUL IMPORTATION.
Useful Grasses.

At recent meeting of the Insti-
tute of Science, Media, Pa, the
question-"In addition to Clover and
timothy, what grasses are most use
full to the farmerP' was answered
as follows by Joel Sharpless:
Good crops of grass are very de
sirable to sll farmers who depend
upon dairying or feeding cattle as
specially, particularly the former,
and the best and most desirable
grass in addition to red clover and
timothy is Kentucky blue grass
In order TO have this latter in pro
fusion, the ground, properly pre-
pared and well MANFRED and sown
with wheat about the middle of
September, should be sown with
timothy a. the rate of from six to
ten quarts of seed per acre, and the
following spring an addition of
from four to six quarts of red clo-
yer seed per acre. The red clover
is the greatest root fertilizer of any
of our plants or grasses. What /
mean by root fertilizers is the fer
tility gwen to the soil by its decay
ing roots, and it is the most valua-
bic of all crops for the recuperation
of the soil when sOWn for and prop
erly used for that purpose. 1t is
blenial plant, and sown as a fer
tilizer, particularly for any crop, it
should be plowed down the second
season after being sown. Some
farmers in Ohio use it in this way
Tor wheat, realizing over twenty
bushels per acre, and putting their
manure on their orchards. My rea
son for sowing more timothy than
clover is that the following season
after the wheat, the clover is apt TO
smother out much of the timothy,
and as the clover is so short lived,
much of the ground is liable to be
left vacant until the green grass
and white clover come In and Occu-
py the vacant places, which they
will do in good soil, provided they
are not pre-empted by the weeds
The latter grasses may be sOwn,
but il most good soils nature pro-
vides them in due season. Al
though the clover is so short lived,
where it has succeeded well it has
left q great means of fertility in its
decaying roots, on which the timo-
thy and other grasses luxuriate, and
in con sequence produce more bOun-
tifuI crops. The roots of well set
acre of clover contain IS5 pounds
of nitrogen, $40 pounds of lime, 40
magnesia, IS potash, 10 soda, "a
sulphur and 20 phosphoric acid, on
which the timothy and other grass
es are luxuriating. 1t would require
a pretty good article of superphos
plate to equal the above amount of
ingredients of the same number of
pounds.
The white clover and green grass
otter have much company, as a
great number of grasses may some
times be found occupying the same
ground. In low, moist grounds /
herds grass or red top, in the alb
sence of good drainage, may be
soWn to good advantage, and in
some rare places by very rich soil,
orchard grass might meet favor if
sown. In order to make
up for the deficiency of the hay
crop of the Hungarian grass it is a
valuable substitute. This grass, if
sown in good, well prepared soil,
viii in about fifty days make from
two to three tons per acre of excel
ent hay, if properly cured without
rain, that viii be eaten greedily by
horses and cattle; but should you
be so unfortunate as to have it wet
time or two, while curing, its good
qualities will be very much impair
sd-much more so than q crop of
timothy or other grasses, yet all
kinds are seriously injured by be
ng wet while having the moisture