The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-03
FOR THE FARrlER5.
Some Valuable suggestions BY Prof.
Mills, of Logan.

Mills, of Logan.
Mr.. A. lessen, Salt Lake City, writes
the experiment station for information
in regard to seeding a 32O-acre field for
pasture. AS our ranges are being mar
rowed down each year, the matter of
suitable pasture becomes of general
Importance, and so it was thought
best to answer Mr.. Jessen through the
press.
With the letter was sent a rough
sketch of the ground, with the follow
ing description of the soil:
/. Gravelly soil; heavy black sage.
.. Clay. bottom soil, white and black
sage.
3. Good, strong bottom soil. gravel
ly, sandy and clay; sage brush ana
some crossword.
T. Natural sod with rabbit pruSh.
5. sAlkali," swampy.
The letter states that the altitude is
from 5000 to $500 feet, and that the
alkali occurring is sulphate of lime, or
gypsum"
rake in regard to the alkali being COM
mon gypsum, and | would Suggest tndC
some of it be sent to the station IN
order that its true nature may be as
certained. The altitude IS somewhat
high for clovers, though believe 1t pest
TO try them. Rabbit brush, white sage
and greasewood indicate the presence
of alkali, but If it is not too strong a
very rich soil will generally be found.
In making a pasture the idea Is TO
get grasses that mature at different
times and mix these so that all through
the season there will be one or more
grasses of the mixture at their best.
Rv this means there is continuous
growth of grass from early spring TO
late fall Aside from this we nave
found at this experiment station that
a, mixture proved to be nearly as good
again as any one OF the grasses taken
separately.
On soils classed as No. 1, above,
sow the following mixture: Red
clover, 2 pounds per acre; tall meadow
oat grass, Z per acre; orchard grass,
per acre; meadow aeScue, per acre;
Sleeps fescue, per acre.
For soils classed as No. 2, dry:
Peavine or mammoth clover, pounds
per acre; tall meadow cat grass, 8
per acre; orchard grass, 3 per acre;
meadow fescue, 5 per acre; timothy. 2
per a3re.
For soils classed as No. 8, dry: Pea
vine or mammoth clover, 2 pounds per
acre; tall meadow cat grass, per
acre; orchard grass, 8 per acre. tall
! fescue, 8 per acre; timothy, per acre.
| For soils classed as No. 4, dry: Alsike
clover, 2 pounds per acre: tall meadow
cat grass, 5 per acre; orchard grass,
per acre; tall fescue, 3 per acre;
| timothy, per acre.
If any of the soil under classes 2, 8,
and are wet for any length of
time, either fall or spring, the orchard
grass and tall meadow oat grass must
be omitted. The tall fescue increased
and red top put into the mixture.
| For soils classed as No. 5: Alsike
clover. 8 pounds; tall fescue. 10; red
! top, 10; if it is too wet for red top
then use the following on No. 5: water
! feScue, 10 pounds; floating meadow
grass, 10; water meadow grass, 10.
| Df there are spots on which the
alkai is so strong that vegetation does
not occur, it may be well to try the
Australian salt bush.
These mixtures may be somewhat
modified to suit different conditions,
but in so doing few points
should be remembered. Glover
should always be in the mixture if pos
sible, putting red on the dry, thin
soils; peavine or mammoth on the
richer soil; and alsike on the damn.
or wet soil. Orchard grass and tall
meadow oat grass are very sensitive
to water and timothy will not stand
swampy land at all. Meadow fescue
is best for the dry soils, while tall
fescue does well on a range of soil
from dry to quite wet If the ground
is very rich timothy may be increased
to five pounds per acre, but on the
very poor, thin soils it should be re-
! dJrced to not more than one Mound nov
acre.
Mr.. lessen says that at best he only
intends ito clear the brush off and
stir the surface with a disc harrow. /"
| If it is to be seeded to grass, by all
means the ground should be plowed
and thoroughly narrowed. This method
will surely pay
The seed can be obtained from any
of the large seed houses, either east
or west. The Australian salt bush can
most likely be obtained from the San
Francisco seed houses.
A A. MILLS,
Agriculturist Utah Experiment Station.