The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-09-02

Laying Down Grass Lands.
To insure the greatest success with
grass the nature of the soil and the eli
mate must be considered and the prop
rer grasses adopted. Ii will not do to
puI timothy or red-top on light sandy
or leachy soil, because our climate is too
dry generally for such soils, these
plants requiring moisture. Hence it is.
that a clay loan is better adapted to
them. and can be made to grow them
for long time, if not permanently. a
field on the old homestead was thus
kept in timothy for thirteen consecuz
tive years, varying little from two tons
per acre! There was no other grass in
the field Tie soil was clay loan, of
a yeHowishy gray color, with a moist
subsoil. q The water line being near the
surface. kept the upper soil compare
lively moist-in some places too moist,
causing mischief by frost in the spring.
1t is such a soil as would be improved
By undertaking for the grains and the
deepcr-rooting grasses, as has been
sufficiently demonstrated.
lind timothy and red-top go well
together in such and similar soils, grow
ing heavier crops than either alone. In
the field above mentioned, the means
of enrichment was principally the after
math, plaster and some manure being
applied al first. No hoof was allowed
on the land, giving a chance for the
aftermath to form a good growth. This
served for protection and plant food.
keeping up the yield so that the last
crop was as good as any. The land was
then plowed and a heavier crop of grain
raised than ever before. Other fields of
similar soil are being treated with similar
success. Evidently timothy (or timothy
and red-top) is the proper grass for this
land: and there is large proportion OF
such soil. The grass needs only good
start, the land to be worked up mellow
and sufficiently enriched and the fertili-
ty maintained.
Where the soil is deeper and has good
drainage, such as limestone or river
soil, including sandy loan and all rich
deposits having depth, the larger and
strongergrowing grasses should be
sown. Nothing perhaps is better than
orchard and Kentucky blue grass rank
growers and rich in nutriment, allow
ing of two cuttings, the first when in
full stalk, the other - bottom - growth
or aftermath, making a icherfeed than
the first moving. Fol-. pasture these,
grasses are equally good if not better,
forming dense, luXuriant heritage. re-
tanning its verdure in a drouth if not
unusually severe, and atfording feed
early and late in the season, the fall
frosts affecting it but little. Of course
it requires fertility to do all this, and
the amount must be proportional to the
growth, which means rich soil, and if
deeply rich all the better. To realize
not only great returns, but profit (the
profit increasing as the yield enlarges),
liberal top-dressing is demanded. Ia
such soil the roots of these strong grow
ing grasses penetrate deeply, going be-
yond the reach of an ordinary drouth.
and further aided by the thick cool mat
at the surface which protects the soil
from the sun and drying winds, retain
ing also moisture longer after rain.
! In both of these cases--timothy or
redtop on a moist clay loan, and or
chard grass and poa pratensis on good
well-drained land-more or less perma-
nence may be. expected, depending
largely upon the season. Thus in the
pas few seasons the prevalence of
showers has thickened the sod in this
section In seasons of drouth the re-
verse is the case. 1t is only such soils
with their grasses as have been indi-
oafal chat xuil stand tba ~, o,1H in,
a severe drouth, or two or more dry
summers in succession, they will so thin
out that it becomes a question whether
it were mot better to break them up and
re-sow. But generally a moist season
or two will bring them right again with
perhaps some change in the vegetation,
weeds and other grasses springing up
in the vacant places. H the soil is
clean one, the. grasses intended will
maintain themselves. We thus may
have permanent grass lands, though
they may not always be profitable. This
condition can be secured only by adapt
ing the grasses to the soil, and having
the soil rich and in good condition.
To change the grasses of one soil for
another alters the case. The timothy
has too short a root for the dry soil; so
with red-top and some other grasses in
use; while the deep-rooting grasses
would find an obstruction in the cold,
wet and hard subsoils. Yet these grasses
and others are sown indiscriminately on
all kinds of soil. Particularly is this
the case with timothy, one of the grasses
that will allow it the least. We there
G., L.. 10, 80 IL,
we see-timothy unable to stand the
drouth, even in rich soil, if of sandy
or gravelly character, especially if the
crop is cut late, as is usual, and in
drouth, as also is common. l have
known whole fields of heavy growth en-
tirely ruined. Early cutting, so as to
give chance to start the second growth,
would have lessened the evil. But the
safe and the only true way is to adapt
the grasses to the soil. Those named
are popular, and their value is well
known. There is no risk in such case;
only do the work well; and this requires
not only attention to the land, but care
is to be exercised in putting in the seed.
In all cases it should be so managed
that the seed may be put in early in the
spring, or early in the fall, spring being
best on account of the winter moisture,
which seldom or never fails to start the
crop. In the, fall. dry weather will
sometimes interfere, though in this sec
tion fall seeding has been practiced of
late years, and with uniform success, the
time of sowing being from the first to
the middle of September. What we
have most to fear is dry weather. To
sow late in the spring, therefore, is to
run directly into the danger of drouth,
which is apt to occur at this time, and
in aggravated form, extending some
times well into summer Nothing can