The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-09
BLUE GRASS SEED.
The Seed of the Grass Which Makes
the Finest Pasture the Foot
s%nOI


stool.
Eyes, yes, remarked the Kentuckian
in New York buying goods because the
Merchants association had made it
worth his while to come that way,
Kentucky is the only really truly
blue-gra state, and, while she raises
the grass it is no small thing when
you come to talk about the crop or
grass seed. The era of prosperity is
with it this year, and the crop Will
amount to about 900 bushels, though
some years it isn't more than half that.
The best of this, called fancy is
worth rs cents in the warehouse, or
so cents in New York, and the second
grade, known as extra Clean is worth
35 cents in the warehouse. AS the most
of it is high grade, you will see that
the blue-g grass seed produces money,
as we'll as blue grass. AT the same
time the industry is not what you
might think it was, and there are only
three seed cleaners In the whole state,
one at Winchester, and the other two
at Paris. st. Louis and Kansas City
have a couple, I think, but their out
put is very small, as Kentucky raises
the great bulk of the seed sold Ohio,
Missouri and Illinois are the only 9TH
er states which raise more than they
use, and their output is hardly worth
counting.
LAS you know blue grass is never
moved, so that there is no such thing
as bluegrass meadow. 1t is pas
ture instead, and the grass is grazed
entirely 1t depends. then, upon how
much a pasture is graZed as to how
much of yield of seed may be had
from 1t, but from eight to fifteen bush
els to the acre is the way 1T runs. The
harvest time is from the Sth to the 18th
OF June, and the harvesting is done
with 'stripper,' a machine which is
drawn through the grass and strips off
the heads Of it, catching it up as it gos $
along This is the seed in the rough
and is worth to the farmer 80 cents a
bushel. 1t is taken then and dried until
about the 1st of August, when 1t Is
cleaned and put in sacks for shipment
It used to be that dealers waited until
the next spring to buy, but in recent
years the sooner they can get it the
better they are satisfied. These are ex-
port dealers exclusively, and all of the
first crop in goes abroad
bluegrass seed is infinitely fine, and
so far there has never been real
effective cleaner made for it, each man
getting up the best thing he can. AS
there are only five or six cleaners In
the country, the demand for cleaners
is hardly enough to develop the talent
of the inventors along that line. 1t is
very difficult to clean the seed, because
1t is so light and fine. 1t Is mostly done
by suction and will continue as 1t now
is. I suppose, until the seed industry
becomes great enough to have some
thing better Nearly every state in
the Union buys bluegrass seed, and
the grass will grow in every state. 1t
is used for pasture grass in the West
and for lawns in the East and North
west. The soil for bluegrass pasture
must be clayey and tough, 80 that it's
roots will hold it in the ground when
the stock pulls on it. 1t will grow as
well on loose and loamy soil, but 1t
must be for lawns there, for the stock
would have it pulled out in short order.
While the famous bluegrass region is
distinctly limestone, that kind of soil
is not necessary to produce good blue
grass, as the pastures in many states
will show. However, when you want
the best, there is only one place on
earth to find it." and the Kentuckian
blushed
"As 1 said, the seeds are shipped to
nearly every state in the United
States, and a third of the crop goes to
to European countries, principally
France, Germany and Great Britain,
but whether they use it for pasture
or lawns / don't know. Speaking Of
this foreign shipment, we can calculate
that two hundred thousand acres Of
Europe are in blue grass every year
At least, it takes half bushel to the