The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1904-11-15
THE GROWING OF GRASSES.

Under usual conditions, the farmer should
grow some live stock, and to do this successful
ly and economically he should have either a
part of his farm to a permanent pasture, or he
should practice some system of crop rotation
that will enable him to get both pasture grass
and moving. IF a permanent meadow or pasture
is desired, and I think should be, it is wise to use
different varieties of grass seeds in the making
of the same. Nature mixes her seeds when she
does her planting and Nature is always a trust
worthy teacher. [ think it is a good plan IN
sowing seeds to have in mind a pasture that will
give green grass from early spring to latest
fall. [ think even in those sections OF the coun-
try where it grows sparingly, and where it is
easily crowded out, red clover, should be mixed
with all grasses sowed, for it leaves in the soil
a wealth of plant food for the grasses coming
after it to feed on; and we know too that red
clover grows abundantly in many parts of our
country. Hence we should study the clover plant
carefully so as to mix it with the seed.
Now there is a reason for mixing clover and
grass. The true grasses, so far as science now
shows, get all their nitrogen from the soil. Hence
they more or less exhaust the soil, but, as so
often explained in this journal, the clovers are
legumes and all legumes are able, by the means
of the bacteria on their roots, to use the free
nitrogen of the air. Hence without cost to the
farmer, these clovers help the soil to feed their
neighbors, the true grasses. For this reason,
then, some legumes should always be added to
the grass seed.
PREVIOUS PREPARATION.
In the sowing of grasses or clovers we know
it is not possible for them to do well in a soil
that is full of weeds. It is best, then, that we
plant the grass in fields from which cultivated
crops have just been taken. Grasses follow cow
peas nicely for this reason. The soil in which
grass is to be planted should also have it's par
ticles pressed together. I am satisfied that one
half of the failures in growing grass is due to the
fact that the land has just been plowed, and
which, consequently, has it's particles loose and
comparatively far apart. This absence of COM
Pact condition has been the cause of failure.
Let the first thought then be soil free of weeds,
but yet compact and mellow. The firm soil draws
moisture up to the seeds, while the mellow soil
acts as a blanket to keep the moisture from vast
ing into the air, and at the same time allows the
warm air to circulate in the soil. If it is neces-
sary to pillow land previous to seeding,le let it be some
months in advance. Plowed land should then be
narrowed several times so as to get it soft and
mellow and compact. Where the seed bed has
been carefully prepared, as suggested here, little
work is necessary after the seeds are sowed. Only
light narrowing is sufficient to cover the broad
| casted seeds. This part of the work should be
done as soon as the seeds are scattered, for if
there be moisture in the soil the tiny seeds will
soon sprout, and if the narrowing be done after
termination is somewhat advanced, the tender
grass plants will be injured. I have frequently
gone over fields where such seeds as timothy, or
clover have been scattered simply on top of the
oround and when termination takes place the
little rootlets are not sufficiently protected, and