Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-01-27
Grass.

Grass.
.H.. ........... ....
When we speak or think of grass il
is, generally, as the herbage which COW
ers the meadows and pastures, the road
sides and the lawns and door-yards, and
which gives the delightful coating of
verdure to the earth which so much
pleases and refreshes the eye But in
considering grass we should miss the
most interesting part of the subject if
we forgot to think of the other grasses
which are so different from these lowly
forms of it rs to be rarely thought of
merely as grass.
The botanist describes grass rs plant
having n jointed and generally hollow
stem, with long. slender, alternate leaves
spikes or panicles. Somes of these
terms we cannot now stop to explain,
but in passing may say that n wheat ear
or a timothy head is a spike, while the
heads of June grass and oats are pani-
cles. Now, if we could see gigantic
bamboo cane growing we should recog-
nize it at once as grass, although the
stem might be n foot thick and eighty
feet high; for the stem is, rs we all
know, hollow and divided by joints into
sections and the leaves as some know,
are long, narrow and much like those
of corn. So we should recognize the
splendid Southern sugar-cane which
grows twenty-four feet high and three
or four inches thick, as grass; our own
familiar corn, too. is grass, the tassel
being apanicle and the ear spike, and
although the stem is not hollow, vet ev-
cry child knows that it is jointed, and
that from these joints the long, narrow
leaves spring. Wheat is grass, too,
and so are rye, barley, oats, millct, Hun
garian grass, and the beautiful, tall wa
ter plant which grows on the banks of
rivers and lakes known rs wild rice, and
so is the cultivated rice grass. But
clover is not grass, although some farm
ers consider it as such. Its stem isnot
hollow or jointed; the leaves are not long
and narrow, and the seed is borne upon
neither spikes nor panicles. There
fore one who calls clover grass, is mis-
taken.
Grass is thus seen to be very i'm
portant class of plants. Indeed, with
ont grass we should have neither bread
of any kind, nor sugar, milk, butter,
meat, leather or wooden cloth or cloth
ing. But if we confine our thoughts to
the humber grasses which cover the
meadows and pasture with verdurc, we
should even then find these indispensa-
BILE to our comfort and happiness. The
farmer could not live without grass, and
its culture is one of the first parts of his
business which he should be familiar
with. Usually we are too apt to think
that grass will grow without any care
and merely by casting the seed upon
the ground and leaving it to its fate.
This is one of the farmers greatest mis-
takes, and it causes him good deal of
trouble and disappointment. For in
spring he procures some seed and sows
it over the wheat or rye in the hope of
having meadow to cut for hay the
next year and to pasture the year after
that. But when the grain is cut and
taken from the field he goes in search
of the tiny blades from which he hopes
for so much, and finds none, where he
expected to find the ground covered
with them. Then he discovers how
mistaken he has been in supposing that
grass needed only the seed to be cast
over the ground to spring up and grow
vigorously.
In fact, grass is crop which needs
the greatest of care, good soil, we'll
prepared and enriched with manure.
Any soil so prepared and enriched will
produce grass of some kind; for there
are some grasses which thrive on moist
clays; some upon low, peaty, wet
ground; some upon sandy soil and some
upon wood lands and under the shade
of trees. For instance, Timothy grass
grows best on II moist clay soil, al
though it will grow well upon n lighter
and dryer kind if it is rich and well ma
nured; orchard grass thrives upon dry,
light soils; Blue grass upon limestone,
gravelly land and Red Top upon low,
wet ground In choosing the right
grass therefore it is necessary that the
nature of the soil and the character of
the grass should both be known and that
these should be adapted to each other
| The seeds of grass are very small.
One ounce of the seed of Red Top con-
tains 500, 900 grains or sufficient to give
nearly twelve seeds to every square foot
of ground over one acre, and yet in SOW
ing Red Top we use more than twenty
pounds or $40 ounces to the acre, and
this quantity would give more than
twenty-five seeds to every square inch
of surface. Blue grass or June grass
has 250, 900 seeds in one ounce; Tim
othy has about $4,000 to the ounce, and
orchard grass $4,000 in an ounce. If
one should figure up how many seeds
are sown to hesquare foot when twelve
pounds of Timothy and twenty pounds
of Orchard grass or twenty of Red Top
are scattered over an acre of ground
and then count up how many young
plants can be found on that space, we
should begin to realize that merelysow-
ing seed is not sufficient for the success
full growth of grass. .....
When farmer intends to seed field
to grass he needs to begin to prepare for
it at least two years before he isready.
The ground should be cleared of weeds
by growing crop that needs good cul-
tivation, as corn. roots or potatoes. Ii
is then to be thoroughly plowed and
| broken up and made fine; then well
manured and made rich and then the
grass seed is sown in the best season,
either in the fall or spring. but at sucl
times and in such weather as will hell
the seed best to germinate and grow.
The choice of seed is also quite i'm
portant. AS a rule mixture of seed il
better than to Use only one kind. Fol
hay the best grass is Timothy; the mex
best is Orchard grass and the next Is Rec
Top, but the best hay is from a mixture
of several grasses and of clover. Fol
pasture we cannot have too man,
grasses, because each one comes TO it