The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-03-05

| not pay, because the weeds choke Out
great deal Of the grass. The uni
form or most general practice in this
part of the State is to SOW with grain
nurse-crop, with winter wheat, winter
oats or rye. But on clean land bet
ter stand can be obtained by sowing
alone. The smaller grass seeds should
he covered lightly. A good plan is to
SOW broadcast and cover with a roller
for if the surface soil is thoroughly
firmed and compacted there will be a
larger percentage of termination and
more even growth than when the
seed is covered with light drag or
brush harrow. More water will be
held in the soil if the ground is rolled
and the surface evaporation. and the
conse lnent drying out of the young
grass seedlings will be in a measure
prevented. Low-lying, cold and heavy
clay soils should be well drained, and
II the clovers are planted. the field
should be well lined am firm be
lever in lime and good drainage for
grass lands. There are many grasses
which will grow on wet soils, but few
that will thrive where there is stag
nant water in the soil, so that to get
the best results a circulation of water
in the soil and drainage to carry off
the surplus should be maintained The
lime corrects any accidity due to the
water having driven all the air
out of the soil, fiocculates the soil par
ticles, improves the physical condition,
unites chemically Y with the decaying
vegetable matter in the soil, and holds
certain valuable plant foods which 9th
erwise might escape in the drainage
waters.
The most commonly cultivated
grasses are timothy, orchard grass, and
red-top for hay, Kentucky blue grass
and Canada blue grass for pasture
lands. Besides these there are a large
number of species whose cultivation
might be profitably undertaken. OF
the legumes we are all familiar with
the clovers, red. white, crimson and
Swedish or alsyke, and with the cow
pea and SOFA bean. Among the le-
gumes, as among the grasses, there are
some strangers that might be profit
ably introduced for certain soils where
the old standbys do not prove success
full.
Besides the blue grasses, the best
grasses for pastures are Festuca rubra,
the red or creeping fescue; Alopecurus
pratensis, the meadow fOXtail; and
Agrostis Gamma, or Rhode Island bent.
The bent grasses are all fine-leafed
forms, which under the constant graz
ing of cattle form thick carpet-like
turf. The bent grasses stand drouth
and hard usage much better than eth
er of the blue grasses. A small eX-
perimental plot of the creeping bent
on the grounds of the Department of
Agriculture, has remained green sum
mer and winter since first established
although it is on piece OF very dry
ground and receives not only the direct
suns heat, but the heat reflected from
the walls of adjoining buildings; and
during the drouth of August and Sep
tember, when the Kentucky blue grass
of the surrounding lawns was sere and
crisp, all but killed out through lack
of water, the little patch of Agrostis
stolonifera remained perfectly fresh
and green.
Bermuda grass is an excellent grass
for summer pasturage, though it does
not do as well with us rs farther south,
where the winters are less severe, and
where it remains green and palatable
throughout the season. The first hard
frost kills it, but because of the fact
that it will thrive through the hottest
summer weather, it is good addition
to our list of pasture grasses. Good
seed is very expensive and hard to get
and the best way to propagate it, is to
scatter the turf in burrows through the
field, whence it will rapidly spread and
take possession of much of the ground
The meadow foXtail, Alopecurus
pratensis, is an excellent species fol
moist clay loans. 1t is Parental
and under favorable conditions has
been know to yield as high as three
tons of hay per acre, although, under
ordinary circumstances, the yield is
much lighter Its chief merit is that
=
spring; that is, the earliest good pas
ture grass, for | think that the over,
estimated sweet vernal grass blossoms
about the same time or perhaps little
| earlier; but the leaves of the latter are
bitter and are not relished by stock
unless perhaps. as some have claimed
| it adds condiment to the meadow hay
when mixed with it in very small pro
portions. But although our English
cousins always recommend 4 small
quantity of sweet vernal grass in pas
ture mixtures and also in their hay
meadows, | do not think that it is a
good practice to do so in this country.
Tall oat grass, Arrhenatherum ella
tins, or Avena elatior. as it is usually
called in the seed catalogues, is an eX-