The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-08-02
Seeding to Grass.

1t has been thought that our climate
is unfayorable to grass. This idea has
prevailed so long that it has come to be
firmly established belief. But like
some other popular beliefs it is utterly
baseless. The truth is we have never
tried to grow grass. We have some
timothy and clover as q hay crop. but
so far as seeding down q meadow with
grasses, it has not yet been done. ex-
cepting by nature, and q few farmers
who have learned q lesson by observing
natural effects. The American climate
is especially favorable to grass. II we
want a proof let US first look at our
roadsides, where, as we have personally
found, any observer may find dozen
varieties growing permanently in spite
of every nnfavorable circumstances. Is
want of fertility, dry weather. tramp
ling, and weeds. In West Virginia,
Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky. and Missouri,
we may find natural meadows Of blue
grass which equals the noted English
permanent grass-lands, and which are
now century old and as yet show no
signs of failure. Further West the
boundless prairie has been covered with
perennial verdure, and still further
millions Of cattle range over our vast
pastures, which have borne grasses OF
the most nutritious kinds for no one
knows how many centuries or tens OF
centuries. Interspersed among the
mountains beyond the plains are seas
of verdure in the picturesque parks and
smaller valleys equally ancient, and
which have been green since the
ancient days when the soil was flrst
formed for the cooled rocks which
came from the bowels of the earth,
vomited amid fire and earthquake. SO
that it cannot be the climate but our
want of the necessary skill which pre-
vents us from growing grass upon ouI
fields.
The great trouble in the way is, we
| do not choose the right kinds, and we
do not sow grass. We SOW grain and
put in grass, and expect crop OF both.
This is against all reason and rule. II
we look at the grass upon the roadsides
| we may learn q lesson that may help
us. We shall find the grass covering
the ground so closely that the soil can
not be seen. We shall find severa
varieties growing interming!ed to
gether, one maturing early and other'
later all through the season. Even o
this early period we may find the frs
grass to blossom, Poa dnnud ready t.
flower if not already blooming. Thor
follows sweet vernal grass, the sweet.
odorous breath of the vernal spring ex
haling from its foliage. Then conn
the June grasses, Poa prGtensis and POI
compressa, with their early heritage
and the fescues of several species; sew
eral kinds of agrostis; another usefu
Poa, the common fowl meadow grass
Poa serotina, and others following 4
succession, with the not-to-be-forgotte
white clover crowding in among then
for the place and living which natur
owes it, but which it will have whethe
or no. Do we farmers grow grasses II
this way? On the contrary, we tr,
| precisely the opposite course, and SOY
one grass and give that no kind Of
chance.
But we are gradually learning better
Some of ms have tried the reasonabl
way and have met with success
Farmers are now learning to SOW eve
the common timothy and clover an
treat it as crop, that is, TO prepal
the ground we'll, as if for crop I
grain, and SOW the seed alone and |
thickly that the ground will be full
occupied. Others are mixing sever'
. kinds, and so precisely following Il
example of nature, and the more
this that is done the more the examp
is followed. We cannot dispense vii
grass. 1t is becoming more and MOI
Indispensable to us every year, and
and by we shall find the reason Why '
, have not succeeded earlier has been b
cause we have been laundering. Nike
grasses. perfect preparation Of the so
liberal seeding. and sowing without 81
robber crop to destroy it win give
/ excellent grass fields. Then we mu
learn to use these grass fields well, fe.
; them generously. and they win Be u
orally responsive. ~ \ uwee