News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1881-12-22
FARM AND GARDEN.
Grass in the Crop RotsLtion-Sugges-
lions about Seeding.
BY THE HON. F. p. ROOT.

BY THE HON. F. p. ROOT.
No system of agriculture can be profit
able that noes not make grass an essen
tial part OF rotation OF crops. When
lands are not adapted to grain, growing
grass is the chief reliance, and it be-
comes a speciality, but nowhere can it
be discarded without great detr1ment to
the soil. The farmer who raises abund-
ant crops of grass, while he is grain
grower also, will raise good crops OF
grain In alienation. There seems a
harmony in the movement from grass to
grain, which is beneficial to each. The
best crops of corn, of wheat, and also
other farm crops in general, are grown
on an inverted sod, with a nicely fitted
seedbed on the surface; and the most
bountlful crops of grass on grain lands
are raised the first crop after grain, or
on newly seeded lands. On our natural
grain soils We find it Improbable to
maintain any permanent meadow or
pasture. Though a portion of every
farm should be in grass, our dry grain
lands will not give continuous crops of
grass without frequent top-dressing and
scarifying the surface; hence it is more
profitable to seed frequently and use all
manure of the. farm for the benefit of
grain crops.
There need be no lack of hay or pas
turage in our dry grain growing sections
If we seed frequently. A crop turning
from one to two tons of hay from newly
seeded clover and timothy is as sure as
any other crop grown, and is also a
renoyating crop to the soil. Too little
attention is given to seeding in grass by
majority ofIarmere, in our grain
sections. Lands in wheat should be
seeded to clover and timothy, and if not
wanted for moving or pasturage the
benefit to the land by growing grass and
clover instead of weeds and thistles will
greatly overbalance the expense of
seeding. It is not profitable to keep
dry land in grass more than two seasons
in succession; then it should be plowed
and two or three crops of grain grown,
and then reseeded. The best season for
seeding of timothy on wheat lands is in
October, or late in September, though
it may be sown in spring mixed with
clover seed, but the growth will be
much less the first season of moving
than if sown in autumn. Glover seed is
sometimes sown in fall on dry sandy
lands to insure termination of the
seed, but it is quite liable to winter kill
in changeable weather.
The best and most usual time of seed
ing to clover is in the month of March,
or early in April; or, We may say, i'm
mediately after the opening of spring
and before frosts disappear, the action
of which will in adegree cover the seed
and aid termination. 1t is also good
time to seed to clover after the ground
is dry enough to go over with light
harrow, sowing the seed Immediately
before that operation, which is regarded
usually as beneficial to the wheat crop
as well as to the dover. Timothy seed
is frequently sown at the time of wheat
seeding, but if wheat is sown early in
the season and timothy at the same
time, there is danger of choking the
wheat by too much growth of grass. 1t
is especially SO when the autumn season
is wet and an active growth follows.
Timothy seed will never fail if sown in
the fall, for If there is not wet enough
to start it in fall, it will come in spring
without fail. Many farmers do not ap-
prove OF early sowing of clover seed,
fearing that the early germ may be
killed by late frosts in spring, but I am
convinced by observation that there is
very little danges of frosts on the young
clover plant unIaSs the ground be frozen
to heave and pul khe root. The cause
OF failure in cl,,ver seeding is drouth
Immediately after termination of the
seed and before the root gets sufficient
depth of soil to retain moisture. A
drouth in the month of May will en-
danger clover seeding later drouth will
only retard growth.
Glover and timothy are the best seed
ing for dry grain lands, where perma-
nent sod is not required, but where con-
tinued grass crops are desired, blue
grass orchard grass and June grass are
more desirable, as they are more lasting,
nf Io r.
will be found beneficial A variety of
grasses will form permanent sod and
afford much better pasturage the season
through, and stock will al ways thrive on
variety of grasses much better than on
one alone, for our grain lands we have no
forage cropmore desirable than red clover
during the season Of its growth. but it
natures during July, after which it af-
fords but little pasturage, hence the rule
OF mixture of grasses to supply the re-
mainder of the season. In seeding lands
we meet with more failures with clover
than with any of the grasses, and to
insure against failure we should always
mix other seeds, which if sown in fall
one need not fear failure, even if sown
SO late as November, for the seeds when
worked into the soil by the frosts and
storms of the winter season will be sure
to terminate in early spring, and there
is but little danger of injury by frosts;
but the same is not true of clover, for
severe freezing will pull the young plants
out OF the ground and destroy them.
No amount of experience can enable a
farmer to always succeed in getting
good seeding of clover, for the variable
ness of seasons cannot be foreseen, but
soil in good filth and fertile, the seed
sown early in spring, and slightly COW
cred with harrow and roller, with a
dressing of plaster, will seldom fail.
Too Much Study.