The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-04-16
Grass Culture.

ing of the soil, which of course depends
upon the kind of fertilizers we use and
the manner of applying them. 1t is a
practice with some farmers to break up
soil ground in the fall, and in the spring
spread on the manure from the barn
cellar and try to harrow it in. This
seems like a wasteful practice, for in
such cases the circumstances are general
ly adverse to an accomplishment of the
end desired. Owing to the hardness of
the ground, much of the manure is left
exposed to the air, and its volatile parts,
or such as evaporate readily, like ammo
mia, for instance, are lost. But when
the manure is plowed in, these elements
of fertility are absorbed by the soil and
retained to be utilized by the growing
plants. In seeding down to grass, too
much clover seed is used in many cases..
One half bushel of herdsgrass seed and
three or four pounds of clover seed is
enough. If too much clover is sown on
rich soil it is liable to lodge and smother
the ~herdsgrass; and the deficiency in the
crop of herdsgrass in succeeding years
is attributed to the using of an INSULT
Gent quantity of seed. 1t is noticeable
that the practice of fall feeding is grow
ing into disfavor. Leaving the cattle on
the fields late in the fall to grub the grass
into it's roots is no doubtinjurious, and if
q thick crop of aftermath is left to be
fatted down by the snow and smother
the next crop of grass, loss is thereby
occasioned. 1t seems as if the better
way would be to let the cows feed of the
aftermath moderately and then take
them off before they have fed it too close.
The TfiIering Of Wheat.
NJ. Naudin, a distinguished French
writer and practical agriculturist, says:
"Tillering is the name given in agricul-
ture to the shoots which spring out liter
ally from the base of the stalk, partic-
ularly among the cereals, and which give
birth to stalks of the second order. A
plant which tillers always forms a stool
or bunch, or, as they say sometimes, it
is many-stalked, but there are always
differences between q many-stalked plant
and a plant that suckers. Nevertheless
tillerings are really nothing but suckers
born OF the original stalk, and not the
ramifcation of a rhizome or the division
of q branch subterraneously prolonged.
y y 1t is esteemed advantageous in
the cultivation of the cereals that the
plants tiller, because each of the suckers
produces q stalk and an ear by which the
crop is increased in straw and grain both
to the extent of the tillering. For that
reason agriculturists seek to increase
tillering by rolling, shearing off the
growing heritage, and frequently by pas
turing down the first growth of heritage
by sheep. But all species and all varieties
OF the cereals are not endowed with the
same capacity for tillering. There are,
for example, certain varieties of wheat
which tiller to a slight degree only, and
then only under favorable circumstances;
while, on the other hand, there are other
varieties which tiller profusely under
nearly all conditions. This is notably
the case with the variety known as spell
or Polish wheat, and the amidOnniers or
starch-producing varieties. For this
reason, when wheat is grown for forage,
these varieties should always be chosen.
Winter wheat, except under exceptional
circumstances, always tillers more than
spring wheat; the same is the case where
a crop is grown on q strong and rich soil;
rs against another where the soil is thin
andmuch lackingin plant food. Finally,
to favor the tillering of the cereals the
plants should not stand too near each
other, for it is evident that the stools
will spread and ramify in proportion to
which they have ~unoccupied space to do
it in, and their roots being less inter-
fered with by other roots, they will find
more n~ourishment to draw from the
soil"