The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-01-29
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
THE FARMERS MIsMANAGE-
MENT OF MEADOWS.
Using too Little Seed when Sown Broad
cast-Raising Turkeys-Cheese
PoisoninS-Farm Notes and
Domestic Helps.
Mistakes in Managing Meadows.

1 1lSG8NcS IN managing M0aQOWSs
The American farmer is more re-
| miss in the matter of seeding his land
with forage crops than in any other
! important branch of husbandry.
Cereal seeding is usually done with
| considerable care. The quantity of
seed per acre is carefully measured
out, and effort made at even distribu-
ton. The growth is watched to ma
turity. to ascertain whether the seed
| ing was too thick or too thin, and by
this means quite correct guage for
the next seeding is obtained, the OBJ
Ject being to get a rate that will pro-
duce and mature all the plants the
land is capable of doing, and no more.
But when seeding with the grasses
and clovers. little heed is paid to re-
| quired kinds and quantity for best
results and generally not much to
even and thorough distribution. A
person would be considered by some
as a proper subject for the lunatic
asylum if he should state that not one
| farmer in four hundred knows what
kinds OF grass-seeds it is best for him
to SOW. how much, or the best way to
SOW them; yet as may be shown
presently, he would not be far out of
the way who should make such a
statement.
1t is a bad practice to drill in tim
othy seed with grain, or even alone
says writer in the Country Gentle
man. The roots of the plant spread
very little. When drilled in, the
plants come up in streaks and remain
90 as long as they exist They are
in a rut as it were, from which
they never get out. Roots do not Sill
in the spaces between the streaks, and
this much of the ground remains I'M
occupied. After the crop is moved.
timothy is long time in start
| ing up afresh. Sowed in this
manner, even good land rarely
produces over ton of hay to the acre.
because the soil is not all filled; and
yet this method continues to be prac-
ticed largely.
| Another great error is in using too
| little seed when it is sown broadcast
even if clover is to be added. The
usual way is to sow timothy with wheat
in the fall and add clover the next
spring. If for meadow. when cut the
ensuing year the crop will be all clo-
yer. scarcely spear of timothy being
noticeable. The year after that the
clover will have. disappeared and the
crop is timothy. How is that? Clover
is a biennial and it died out the second
season. The first season it outgrew
and over-spread the timothy and kept
it SO short and fine that it was not no.
ticed. Timothy is perennial If it
has a chance to be, and clover can be
kept growing right along with it if
desired. After cutting the crop the
first time keep all cattle Off Let the
! second crop of that season seed and
! drop on the ground. 10 this every
! year and the hay will be half clover
and half timothy continually.
But the temptation to remove the
: second crop OF clover by grazing, or
for seed or for .rowen'' is so great,
that it is the custom to do it. Then
there remains for subsequent meadow
or pasture the field seeded with timo-
thy. but never half thick enough.
Roots do not fill the ground and cover
the surface as they should, but stand
in stools here and there like lone SEN
tinels. In soil that heaves, the frost
has fino opportunity to throw out these
isolated stools; whereas, had the seed
been sown thick enough. so that the
roots would have become continent in
tertwining and interlocking, covering
the ground completely. frost would
have less opportunity to enter; and it
would not be at all likely to do any
damage in this manner. for it could
hardly throw up tbs entire surface
Thick seeding prevents heaving, if
care has been observed to get the
grasses or clovers we'll established be-
fore winter sets in.
How to sow the seed is a pertinent
question. 1t has already been shown
that drilling it in is an error. Some
like the broadcast sower on
wheels, and some the wheelbarrow
sower; but l could never have any use
for either A man skilled in the bust
ness can sow by hand as many acres
in a day as any machine CAN and if
he is an expert in the business he
will distribute the seed as evenly and
oftentimes better; but this is blisi-
ness no indolent careless man should
attempt