Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-08-30
NRAaS CuL TtlRE.


rotnts In the Clark Method OF EEaIx-
ing Ttve Tons Per Acre.
George d. Clark notable plan for
growing grass Is again reviewed In
Rural New Yorker. such great interest
has IL excited. 1t Ia summed up as
s'perfect preparation. heavy seeding
and full feeding" The object Of the
preparation is by repeated workings To
make the soil so loose and mellow that
the ling seeds win surely sprout and
grow. AS to seeding. The Rural says
Having given this perfect fitting OF the
ground, tie next point of Mr.. Clarl's
system is to seed heavily to grass
alone The old idea was that grass re-
CURED a nurse crop. such as rye or
wheat. When grain and grass are
sown together, year Is lost in getting
a crop Of hay, while the yield is cut
down at least one-half Of what II might
have been If the grass had been seeded
alone Mr. CLARK sent US the grass cut
from one square foot Of ground. There
were BAL separate plants. This means
14.853, 300 plants on an acre. Take a
field seeded with grain, and after the
grain has been cut you will find where
every grain plant stood bare spot as
large as your hand or larger. Every
one of these spots ought to contain %
or more grass plants If you are to have
the average found in Mr.. Clark's field.
Such yield is only possible when ev-
cry square inch of the surface of the
meadow has its stand Of grass. In or
der to obtain this thick seeding Mr..
Clark uses IA quarts each of redton
and timothy and four quarts Of red
clover per acre.
This seeding is done in what many
farmers would call slow and tedious
way. Only one kind of seed is sown at
a time. and In order to obtain greater
accuracy Mr. Clark sows the field twice
over to each kind Of seed He uses
two lines, which are pulled across the
field, so that narrow strips of accurate
size are seeded one at time. For ex-
ample, seven quarts OF timothy seed
are divided accurately into 90 parts
The lines are drawn across the field di-
vided into spaces of two square rods
One part of the timothy seed will be
scattered evenly over each space. the
fertilizer being applied In the same
way, and also the redtoD seed. When
the field has been once gone over In
this way, the lines are changed so as &c
run the opposite way of the field, and
the same process is carried out witt
the remainder of the seed. The field Ii
then worked over eight times with 9
specially designed fine tooth harrow
This is worked right and left diagonal
Iy across the field until the seed Is al
perfectly narrowed In. and then roll
er follows to complete the job. If pos
sibie, this seeding ts done on damp
still day or before shower. Mr. Clarl
wants to SOW the seed close to Sept
If possible. He says that grass seed ii
his latitude natures In August ant
would be sown by nature at or near ths
time 1t is perfectly mature Wher
land is seeded In this way, 1t may run
for years without reseeding provided i
is well fed and cared for. The redtoI
seed adds over a ton of hay per acre
above what any seeding to timothy
alone could produce
Mr.. Clark does not consider that sta
BILE manure is suited TO the grass crop
He thinks that the clumps OF manurs
are sure TO kill out more or less of th'
grass. Every fall the Geld Is clippet
and the waste grass raked OF so as Il
leave no harbor for mice Fine ant
soluble fertilizers are used The fol
lowing mixture viii about duplicate
the special brand used by Mr.. Clark
Four hundred pounds Of nitrate OF so
da, 400 pounds Of muriate Of potasl
and 1900 pounds Of fine ground bone
Mr.. CLARK uses about 800 pounds o
this mixture per acre. It Is applied a
seeding time, being spread With tn
seed and narrowed thoroughly In
About the same quantity Is used eacl
following year-spread on the sod
part after cutting and part the follow
ing spring.