River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-04-12
Methods OF Seeding With Tame
Grasses

The experiments in seeding tame
grasses on the Nebraska Industrial col
lege farm as we gather from the report,
gave the following results, timothy, red
clovar orchard grass, and Kentucky blue
grass being used: When sown very
early in the spring, on fall-sown
rye, where the rye was pas
tured and kept rather short, the
plan was moderately successful. The
rye must not be allowed to grow too
high, so as to shade the growing grass
too much; nor must it be pastured 50
close as to allow the ground to get heat
ed by the direct rays of the sun. The
tramping of the animals pasluring on
rye was, the report says, evidently an
advantage to the grass, which grew best
where well tramped. One patch of rye
which was allowed to mature, seemed to
to have choked out the grass entirely, or
what little lived through was burned up
by the hot sun of mid summer after the
shelter of the rye had been removed
Another plan tried was the following
Somewhat late in the spring, after May
/, the land was ploughed and sown to
winter rye, and we'll narrowed to com
pact the soil and give smooth surface.
On this timothy, clover and blue grass
were sown and lightly brushed in. Five
acres treated i'll this way in the spring of
1882 gave an excellent stand. and grew
we'll through the season. The rye grew
slowly, and spread over the ground 50
as to shade it somewhat without drawing
much on the moisture. This patch had
been used for hog lot, and the soil was
not in good condition, but II was desir-
able to get it into grass as soon as posi-
BILE. and the experiment was tried.
The most satisfactory plan tried, how
ever, was to SOW tie grass seed quite
early in the season without any other
crop. 10 secure the best results on this
plan SAYS the report, the soil should be
ploHghed the preceding fall and well
dragged down so as to be in shape to re-
tain its moisture. In a fall when the
sell is too dry to plough up finely and
pack well, it would be better to leave the
ploughing till spring. Where as will
usually happen on old ground, weeds
come up thickly, they must be mown
down several times during the season
A piece sown in the spring of 1882 in
this way grew well and bloomed freely
in July. On June 90, one square foot of
this grass was cut close to the ground,
and the weight of the green grass was
Just eight ounces. At this rate the green
grass on an acre would have weighed
over ten tons, and dried would have
produced over two tons of bay. 1t is
true that the early part of 1882 was
very favorable for the growth of grass,
but an equally luxurious growth has
been seen in other years.
They also had fair success in sowing
timothy, blue grass, and clover seed on
prairie pastures where the grass was
partly destroyed The chief difficulty
appeared to be that the stock kept the
tame grass nipped ofso close that it had
but poor chance to grow, and conse-
quently was long time in becoming es-
tablished.
The report on this subject concludes:
The value of tame grass for pasture in
this state may be considered established.
Tame grasses will yield more food to the
acre, excepting only during the dry
months: they give full month more OF
grazing in the spring before prairie
grasses are up, and so much latter in the
fall. Clover and timothy will retain
their hold longer here than in the East
ern States. In the driest part of dry
seasons they became quite brown, yet
with fall rains, or even the absence Of
excessive drought, they become green
again. There is but one drawback to
their extensive growth for hay; that is
the circumstances that it is frequently
rainy about the time that the tame grass
hay is to be made.-Western Rural.