Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-03-31
Grass Culture.

The famous grass grower, Mr.. George
NJ. Clark of Higganum, CT, in an address
at recent farmers institute, said:
There is much talk about worn out lands.
If we will work ourselves, and make our
horses work, with good tools, we will
soon work new life into the soil. We
should ali work and learn to love work.
Not only is it honorable, but we must do
this to have life, health and prosperity.
Young and old, we must pull together
and work TO get up muscle. We might
as well dig dirt part of the time to get
up muscle as to play ball, skate, play
golf or anything else. Exercise of any
kind makes muscle. My work in this
grass culture is to show you, one and all,
that if we pull together we can make
money on the farm. | want to make the
young men and women stay at home on
the farms. 1t is an honor to be farm
er. All the good government lands are
taken up. There is no better land in the
world than right here. The hue and
cry has been $50 Westr but that is
past You had better stay here. Most
of the old farms are large enough TO
divide. You would better stay with
your friends. You can make money
with them. 1t is not necessary to have
a large amount of land TO make much
money. Most of us are land poor.
There are thousands of money-making
farms in this country of less than ten
acres. AS rule the small farms make
the most money. Look at the truck
gardener. Intense cultivation does it.
To explain further, red top and timo-
thy, when Sown together, will produce
one and One-half tons an acre more hay
than when each is Sown by itself. These
grasses work we'll together, and should
be reseeded once in five or six years.
That is the time they would reseed them
selves. They should be sown on Sept. l.,
and all the seed on section should be
sOwn the same day. Why? The seed
must all start together. l sow fourteen
quarts of each kind of seed to the acre,
between lines eight and a quarter feet
apart, and definite amount of seed to
each row-four rods. Half of each kind
is sown each way. No other seed should
ever be sown with them. II takes ten
months to produce crop of grass.
Forty days from May /, drouth, with in
tense cultivation, rarely, if ever, hurts
the first crop. The time to cut any
kind of grass is when half the heads are
in blossom. Two fine days will cure six
tons or more of hay to the acre, but with
bad weather no one can tell. Use all
the yard manure you can get before seed
ing. But after seeding use nothing but
bone, muriate of potash and nitrate of
soda. or their equivalent, and thereafter
fertilize every crop, whether first or
second. Bone makes body, potash
strength, and soda is the driver. | al
ways heap my hay when hot; say from 2
to p. m. Hay should be evenly
packed in the mows, especially if the
mows are long. The second crop should
be cut Just before frost, and the field
should be kept clean for winter. Fields
well cared for and kept clean will never
winter kill. Grass fields should never
be pastured You can never get as good
results by fertilizing old fields. No ami
mails of any kind should stand, stamp,
drop material or otherwise do anything
to kill out the stand. No part of the
grass stand can ever be recovered except
by reseeding. Keep your grass fields in
every way as clean as garden. Eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty. That is
the price we pay to get the best results
in grass culture or any crop.-Mirror and
Farmer.