Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1893-07-08
Rest Grass Mixtures.


lands come from a mixture of grasses
rather than from any one variety.
Timothy and clover are planted to-
gether and give excellent results,
but even better than these two are
other mixtures where several varie-
ties are seeded down at the same
time. The question that concerns
as more than anything else is to
find out what is the best mixture
for our soil.
There are two broad rules for
seeding down grass land that show
the value of mixing grasses, and
these mixtures can be modified to
suit almost any one. A great deal
depends upon what we need the
grass for. Some want hay, and hay
alone. They have no need for pas
ture. Others desire to gather a
good crop of hay, and then to have
good pasture fields for stock late in
the summer and fall. Two very
different mixtures are required for
these separate objects if the best re-
salts are to be obtained.
For fine hay crop the mixture
should have as its basis the English
and Italian rye grasses at the rate
of two and one-half bushels to the
acre, and twelve pounds of clover
seed. Such a mixture can be made
SO that it will cost about $3.50 per
acre to seed the land down with it.
If the soil is properly prepared a
crop of hay averaging between four
and five thousand pounds to the
acre should be cropped in one year
and an increase over this the follow
ing season.
This is a good crop and produces
excellent food for horses and cattle.
The grass is high and luxuriant,
while the clover fills up all spaces
between the tall grasses. By top
dressing the land little every year
the hay crop can be made perma-
nent for a number of years before
another seeding is required. But
such a crop will not stand heavy
pasturing in the fall after the hay
has been harvested.
If this is desired, a mixture
should be made of the strong grow
ing grasses, such as orchard, timo-
thy, meadow foxtail, tall and mead
ow fescue, and rough stalked
meadow grass, and ten pounds of
clover None of the rye grasses
are included in this mixture. The
yield per acre will be slightly less
than the first mixture, but a good
crop can be gathered, averaging
over two tons to the acre the first
season. But these grasses come in
TO maturity at different times, and
the crop is kept up all of the time.
A fine pasture land is formed for
autumn feeding and the cattle can
be turned on the fields until cold
weather. This is probably The
ideal mixture for most farmers who
have COWS, sheep or pigs to feed in
the fall or winter. They can gather
their hay crop for winter feeding,
and then a few weeks later turn
their stock upon the grass for sum-
mer and fall feeding, so that the
hay need not be touched until cold
weather. The orchard grass comes
up so early in the season that il
crowds out all weeds, and even pre-
vents the ox-eyed daisy from ma
turing-that bane of many hay
fields. If we select the best grasses
of this mixture, they will cost about
$14 per acre for seeding, but by using
a little discretion the mixture car
be formed SO that the nutriment o.
the crop will be almost as good and
the cost will amount to only $40 pei
acre.--Agriculteral Epitomist.
[ never Mean my nips. Instead