The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-04-01
Tame Grasses in Kansas,

| W cOttic.
Tame Grasses in Kansas.
In the Industriolist of March 10th
a little paper printed at the Agriculture
College at Manhattan, Kas., Prof. Shell
ton has a long article on the cultiva
ton and growth Of tame grasses il
this State, which is interesting and in
structive. The professors experience
with tame grasses in Kansas has beer
confined mostly to the State Agricul
tural farm at Manhattan, but his sug'
gestions and instructions in reference
to their comparative value and growth
is doubtless applicable to all parts Of
the State.
In reference to the soil he says the
best results have been obtained upon a
fertile clay loan, with a permeable
clay subsoil, but that they can be
grown on comparatively poor lands in
this State as we'll as elsewhere. He
suggests, however, that land cannot he
TOO rich or too highly MANFRED for the
tame grasses. For pasture he recon-
mends the following, placing them in
| the order of their Importance: orchard
grass, alfalfa, red clover, perennial rye
grass English blue-grass). These are
also recommended formowing purposes
excepting the orchard grass. In refer
ence to their ability to withstand
drouth he ranks the grasses as follows:
alfalfa, orchard-grass, perennial rye
grass, red clover, Kentucky bluegrass
and timothy.
The professor condemns the common
practice Of sowing grass seed with oats
or some other crop. His idea is that
the grass needs sun and not shade,
and especially if it is dry season the
other crop will absorb the moisture
needed by the grass. The time to SOW
grass seed he believes, without except
ion, is in the spring, during April and
the fore part of May. Alfalfa is recon-
mended as our best clover, and yet in
order to get q successful start it must
have Old, rich and well drained land to
begin with the ground should be care
fully plowed and narrowed, and not
less than twenty pounds of seed per
acre sown. During the first season it
should not be pastured or moved, but
fer that it will take care of itself, and
with good treatment will last a gener-
alton. Alfalfa makes an enormous
yield Of hay, two, three, and sometimes
four crops can be cut from it one season.
AS pasture grass the professor says
the orchard grass has proven the best
and the safest. 1t terminates about as
easily as oats, and there is no trouble
in getting 4 good stand. From one and
a half to two bushels of seed should be
sown per acre, as it grows in punches
and does not form a sod, and the thicker
the seed the more it will tend to coun-
teract this tendency. English blue
grass and red clover are also recon-
mend as doing well and giving good
satisfaction.
The most surprising statement by the
professor in this interesting paper, is
what he says in reference to Kentucky
bluegrass. He says that his expert
ence with this grass-which has been
an extended one-convinces him that
for all useful purposes, except lawns,
in central and western Kansas, it is one
of the most worthless of tame grasses.
In some counties bordering on Missouri
it has done well, but in other parts of
the State it has been of little value.
In closing the professor refers to the
many excellent qualities of our prairie
grass he says no known species is SO
well adapted to Withstand drouth, and
thinks that farmers who have good
fields of prairie grass should preserve
them from injury both on account of its
intrinsic value and AS a precaution
against a dry season.