Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1901-04-19
About Bronze Grass.

mus lnermis seed which came from
Russia. On May 9th, I under
took to SOW it with a Havana press
drill, on four square acres of
ground; mixed barley with it to
try and force it down through the
drill, but went once over the piece.
and had lots of bronze grass seed
left. Then I cross-sowed.it using
more bronze grass and less barley,
and stirring it down often; but the
best I could do I had about three
pounds of seed left.
Since then I SOW by hand broad
cast. It is SO light that it can
hardly be sown by a common drill
or force-feed seeder. On August
3rd, | cut the barley pretty close
with a binder; barley good though
too thick; bronze grass very small
and hard to find. In '99 there
were lunches Of bronze grass from
one to four feet apart all over the
piece. July 10th it was about
three feet high, we'll seeded and
1T clipped the seeds off with a
header, then moved up the bronze
grass stubble and the weeds; got
about $50 lbs. Of clean. seed and
about three loads Of very weedy
hay. What bronze grass there
was. though, was fine hay-better
than timothy, I think. It thick
ened up a good deal that fall, and
in the early spring of 1900 it babe
fair to make a big crop, but with
scarcely any rain through April,
May and June the seed blighted
and by July LIST it looked pretty
near dead. The speltz and wheat
adjoining it vas dead; also the
prairie sod. except, of course, the
roots underground. On July 18th
and 9Th, it received over four
inches Of lain, with good rains
every few weeks thereafter; and
the last Of September I headed
about 300 lbs. Of clean seed and
could have mown about four tons
of fine hay; but as the weather was
wet and catchy [ did not cut
the hay and my COWS have fed on
it nearly all winter. 1t covers the
ground like a mat, now, and with
an average rainfall it ought to
make a big crop this aso
J In May Of 1897 bought sixty
lbs. Of Dakota grown seed and
sowed it by hand on about 5 acres
of ground, using oats as a nurse
crop on a part Of it and sowing
. some Of it alone. I moved the
oats for hay as soon as they head
ed, but the bronze grass was far
the best where sown alone. I shall
SOW it alone in the future, moving
the weeds once or twice and leav-
ing them lay as a much or shade
for the young bronze grass plants,
which are very fine, small and
tender when they first come up.
This sowing has yielded no hay,
yet, on account of last seasons
drouth, but it made fine growth
through the wet fall of 1900 and
shows up we'll for a big crop this
season.
May 10th, 1900, I sowed about
100 lbs. of b. g. seed of my own
raising on six acres of land that
had already been sown to fax.
Nothing-not even the weeds
started on this piece until after
the rain Of July 18th and 9Th; then
all the bronze grass and a very
little Of the flax came up; also
weeds, mostly Russian thistle. ]
moved the weeds once, and this is
now, [ think, the best stand /
have got.
l shall SOW what seed I have cot
this spring as soon as I can after
the frost is out. Have sown some
on spring plowed land, on fall
plowed and on corn ground disked
up; also on wheat stubble disked
and narrowed. Can see little diff.
ference. The main thing is tc
have a deep plowed seed-bed, we'll
frmed down by a press drill, sub.