Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1883-11-15

is Pig, and think she is the best iu-
vestment that vas ever made in pork. "
-ArkanSaW 7rareicr.
Sowing Grass Seed.
Times.
The results of sowing grass-seed are
generally less satisfactory than in the
case OF any kind of grain. Complaints
of a 'poor catch" are very common.
Not unfrequently several dollars per
acre ara expended in seeding field to
grass, and no return is made for the
money. A little grass appears the next
season and large number of weeds.
There is n loss OF crop and the land
becomes nursery for undesirable
vegetation. The cause Of failures to
establish a good stand of grass are
numerous. Ono of the most prominent
is poor seed. Much of the seed is poor
when the stalks that produced it are
cut. Much more becomes injured while
the stalks are being cured, or while they
are in stack. 1t is likely that u still
larger quantity becomes ruined after it
is thraShc and is stored in buildings.
Moisture is tho most frequent cause of
injury, still other agencies affect it fav-
orably. Sometimes ii is easy for the
experienced eye to discern that the seed
is injured. Its color is changed. At
other times it is impossible to discover
that the seed is not good without the
aid of quite powerful microscope. 1t
is somewhat easy to determine if the
seed possesses any vitality by placing
few grains between pieces OF moistcned
cloth or batting and leaving them in i
somewhat warm place few days, TAX
ing care to keep them moist during the
time. If the seed is positively bad 1t
will soon begin to mould and give Otf Il
bad odor. Ii it has vitality it will soon
begin to swell, and, after few days,
sprouts will appear. BY keeping up
the supply of moisture roots will also
appear. Such seed may generally he
trusted to grow. Still it may not
possess sufficient vitality to produce
sprouts that will continue TO grow in
u field.
1t is often the case that all the grains
in given lot are bad. There is geucr-
ally some good seed in very poor lots.
OF course large quantity Of grass
and clover seed is carried over from
one year to another. There is no
assurance that some is not several years
old when it is purchased. Dealers
think the seed is quite too costly to
throw away. They mix old seed with
new, and in that way make the whole
pass Tor the merchantable article.
Sometimes the proportion ot good seed
is extremely small. Some OF tine seed
will produce strong stalks, some will
gcrminate but will not have sufficient
vitality to sustain the sprouts, and
some will not germinate at all. Mr..
Flint in his work on grasses states that
few farmers SOW less than n bushcl of
redtop seed, u peck of timothy, and
four pounds of red clover to an acre OF
land. These will contain not
less than $1,000 600 seeds. They
would allow about 1000 seeds
TO the square foot, and fifteen
seeds to every square inch of land.
Were one.fOurth Of these seeds to
gcrminate and produce strong stalks
the plants would crowd each other
One vigorous rcd-clover plant will oc-
cupy square foot of ground. Still,
most farmers sow n much larger
amount of seed than that given above,
Even then they fail TO secure what is
called good stand Obviously few
of the seeds produce stalks that grow.
The failure of so many of the good
seeds to produce vigorous stalks is due
to variety Of causes. Many lie on
the surface OF the soil and are eaten by
birds OF perish Tor want OF moisture.
Some arc buried so deep that they fail
to germinatc. This is probably the
case with the majority of tho seeds. 1t
is difficult to give grass and clover seed
sufficient covering without running the
risk of giving them to much.
Farmers are not well agreed about
the hest time for sowing This kind of
orass.seed Those in one section of
the country generally follow the prac-
ticos tLot Trcvoil in nnother norton.
where The soil and climate are very
different The seed of GRASS and clover
is gennrollv sown in eonroction with
Grain. This is done partly with n view
of securino n crop of Grain the season
tho rrass and clover are becoming es-
tablished. and partly with the view of
afrnrdinr some shade for tho tender
Grass and clover nlants, The Grain Is
Also found to be- beneficial in keepino
weeds in check Ordinarily. securing
n GOOD Stand of Grass is rewarded as ot
SECONDARY to nroducinc n large crop of
Grain Tbo seod he'd Is nrenared for
, 9rnin and is much ii,htcr than il
Should he IL intenJed for grass alone,
r Tho sowing isdone when it Is presumed
tn ho most favorohlo for tho Grain. and
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