Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-10-04
FOR THE FARMERS.
VALUABLE POINTERS ON FARM
WORK.
S""ing Grass Seed Before or After
me nriii-Time to PIow sod-After
Iotatoes Have misunderstanding
Winter Grain Too Early.

In the farm conomy the sowing of
grass seed is a very important matter.
yet there Is q diversity Of opinion re-
gardlng the matter of sowing before or
atter the grain has been drilled or
pr~oadcaSted, and then narrowed. says
l.. ID. Snooke In Orange Ju'd Farmer.
IL Sown in any manner before drilling.
some claim that much seed is lost
by Deing buried too deeply, and the
saline point is raised If SOWn before the
gram Is broadcaSted. either by machsl-
cry or hand in tn usual manner. These
advocates claim that sowing the grass
seed immediately after drilling or har-
rowing, and then rolling The surface,
WI Y the seed sufficiently. Shout
ule soil be mellow and n rain follow,
much Of the seed will terminate. How
ever the covering is too shallow AMI a
large part of it so little covered that
III q dry time, much Of that which & r
minated Is too near the surface and is
without sufficiently developed roots to
Keep the young seedlings alive.
Most of the improved grain drills
have the grass sender attached in Il ont
or the grain sower, and many farmers
will use no other. claiming that while
some OF the grass seed is no doubt
buried too deeply for termination. the
greater portion grows almost as read
lily as the grain. That which is pl C d
too deeply will remain uniniured In
the soil for many years. This Is Cspe-
cially true Of all the ~clovers, as they
contain much oil that prevents decly,
and seeds thus buried have been known
TO terminate ten years after being thus
deposited, the blowing of the land
after the expiration Of that period hav-
Ing placed the seed at the proper
depth. Hence deeply sown seed is not
always lost.
When commercial fertilizers are SOwn
with the grain and the drill tech are
not set ZigZag. the sowing of grass
seed after drilling has one good point,
as n large prrcent of the seed falls
into the little furTow made by the
drill teeth and is consequently i'm
mediately above the fertilizer, and IL
II once gets a fOOthOld it makes a rapid
end desirable growth. One great draw
back to tits seeding If er sowing IS the
tilHl'DblNu N''dlE - dltu AhllpS IOAiNAlGiOh
Of the surface soil. If the seed should
be sOwn previous to rolling and the
surfece then brusNed over with q light
harrow, the latter operation would
prove Of great value. BY far too many
farmers are careless in this line OF
work, when, If properly done, 1t would
show better results than any other OF
the farm operations. Grass seeds are
expensive, and on the proper prepare
ton Of the soil often depends the sue
cess or failure Of tho future meadow
and pasture land. Too often 1T is
necessary to reseed the following year,
which also requires another grass crop
TO be taken from the perhaps already
Impoverished soil. With fall-Sown
wheat or rye, it viii insure a better
catch, nine times in ten, TO sow TIM
othy in the fall. If it should possibly
fail to grow, it may be sown the follow
ing spring, adding clover, if desired,
at that time.