The Dickinson press., 1884-01-19
Methods Of Seeding With Tame
Grasses.

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, Oh fall.sown
rye, where the rye was pas
tured and kept rather short, the
plan vas moderately successful. The
high. SO as to shade the growing grass
too much; nor must it be pastured so
close as to allow the ground to get heat
ed by the direct rays Of the sun. The
tramping of the animals pas'uring on
rye was, the report says, evidently an
advantage to the grass, which grew best
where we'll 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
l, the land was ploughed and sown to
pact the soil and give a smooth surface.
On this timothy, glover and blue grass
were sown and lightly brushe1 in. Five
acres treated i'll this way in the springot
1882 gave an excellent stand. and grew
we'll through the season. The rye grew
slowly, and spread yer the ground so
as to shade it somewhat without drawing
much on the moisture. This patch had
been used for a hog lot, and the soil was
not in good condition, but it 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 the grass seed quite
early in the season without any other
crop. To secure the best results ON this
plan SAYS the report, the soil should be
dragged down so as to be in shape to re.
tain its moisture. In a fall when the
soil is too dry to plough up finely and
pack we'll, it would he better to cave the
ploughing till spring. Where as will
usually happen IN old ground, weeds
come up thicklv, they must be mown
down several times during the season.
A piece sown in the spring of 1882 i'll
this way grew we'll and bloomed freely
in July. On June 90, one square foot O
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 WOulu nave weighed
over ten tons, and dried would have
produced over two tons of hay. 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 nippei offso close that it had
but a poor chance to grow, and conse-
quently was a long time in becoming es.
tablished.
The report on this subject concludes:
The value of tame grass Tor pasture III
this state may be considered established
Tame grasses will yield more food to the
acre, excepting only during the dry
months: they give a full month more o.
grazing in the spring before prairie
grasses are up, and so much latterin the
fail. 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 n drawback te
their extensive growth for hay; that il
the circumstances that it is frequently
rainy about the time that the tame grass
hay is to be made.-Western Rural.