Nevada County picayune., 1888-10-31
PERMANENT PAST RES.
Various Wa gr .,.,t ,iniag and Retaining
 x. ch .lsS Lands.

Various w.; 3r ,i.,t ,niag and Retaining
 !;.rh !'ss Lands.
 How to obtain ;t1d retain permanent pastures and meadows is the question of paramount importance to the stock breeders and daiiymcu of to-day. On rich, alluvial lands our best grasses will flourish naturally by simply feav- ing them alone, and by sewing little seed in places occasionally; but on the uplands it is not natural for the grass to be retained, and the difficulty of keeping good pastures is much great CT. These lands must be sown with lasting grasses. which will endure all the change Df Acis;.i"r and climate, and not be lrimcd ont every winter. IL is fsat that every farmer should find out for himself, that, while nearly all kinds Of grasses will grow on the bottom lands ot his farm, only few of the more hardy kinds will take any kind of hold on the uplands. Study right here should be made in order , that the best results may be obtained. For upland meadows the red-top is evidently the best to sow. for 1t will outlive all of the other kinds. It will usually yield nearly double the amount of pastire to the best timothy, and the st )ck will relish it before and after 1t is cut. Orchard grass is also con- stant and rapid grower, and for sweet pasture it can not be eXcelcd; but it ] c.. .,l al fp, An other grass that starts early in the sea- son and grows all through the warm months, making thick and valuable pasture, is our native blue grass. It l is indigenous to most farms in this sec tion of the country, and if not sown it will soon make its appearance along with the red-top. It makes d fine i aftermath, Us ii will continue to flourish late in the fall when other grasses have i begun to fail.
 In seeding pasture lands large sums of money are often lost, the seeding be ing careless, or the method unwisc. | The risk of seeding with oats is very great, and the cost large enough to make itself felt if the work is a failure. Spring wheat or barley is much bet ter crop to SOW with the grass, and 1 then ne grain should not be put in nearly as thickly as the grass seed. One can not expect to raise two crops in one season off the same land. If the season is wet one clover and timothy will do well if put in the ground with tie early spring grain; but the more delicate grasses will not take hold if put in with an oat crop early in the year. In fact. those that are delicate at the start do much better when sewn alone, for the grain is liable to over grow them, and either destroy them entirely, or make them thin and weak.
 But without doubt, the best way to got good grass pasture is to SOW with the winter grain, putting the seed in a3 early in the spring as possible There will be no risk run then of loos- ing both labor and s2ed. But think that some experimenters overdo the matter in this work as in other kinds O farm labor. Not q few have sown clover and timothy on tho top of big snow banks, and report that it did finely. The seed worked its way down through the snow and became inn beded in the earth, where it started 10 grow with the first warm weather of spring, In some cases this plan may have worked well, but if certainly Is not good method to adopt Whom the snow melts the seed is liable to be washed off the field by the small frcshets and rivulets, and if not deposited in some lowland far away it will be thrown up in punches in places, leaving other spots entirely bare. IL is much surer and better practice to wait until the snow banks have gone. and then SOW evenly over the field, thus insuring q good regular crop.
 It is understood. however, that such pastures are not permanent ones, for clover will follow its biennial nature, and die out in two years, excepting, 1t nay be, ia a few rich spots, where 1t | will finger along for several years. Timothy, likewise dies out in few years, and should not be sown for per manent sward. Yet, of all grasses, timothy is probably the most common ly sown, but this is owing to its cheap ness, and the little care that it requires | in cultivation. ]. Examiner.