The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-20


 cess. Farmers have crude ideas in re- gard to growing grasses. The writer is travelling all the time, holding farmers institute meetings in many sections of the country, and so has an opportunity to observe things in general, and it is cer- tainly astonishing to find so many who have the crudest ideas. or none at all regarding grass growing. This may be saying a great deal, but 1t is true. and we had better take conditions as we find them and try to apply such remedies as will correct these conditions. There are so many farmers that seem to think that after the soil has been worn out by con tinued farming, thus having been robbed of all plant food, that 1t ought to grow grass, and all that Is needed is to SOW. the land with seed and the grass will come up. After such efforts have failed then the farmer Is ready to declare that the country will not grow grass, and that there is no use in trying to do so. We often find another class of farmers who are willing to give the soil some plant food before sowing the seed but stop here and seem to think that the grass can take care of itself after once being started Such farmers make only a partial suc- cess of grasses and are always in doubt, not knowing whether their soils and the country around them Is suitable for grass or not.
 Some Causes of Failures.
 Tie above are the principal reasons for so many failures with grasses, yet there ar. some other reasons as well, and Q fey of these will be briefly mentioned. In the fist place lle should know that the all wise Creator in His wise pro- vision for man made first the soil for the growing of crops for feed for man and beast and in the great multitude of grasses, there are varieties suited for all soils and climates. This being true, it first of all behooves the farmer to select such varieti.; as will best suit his soil and climate, and not spend time and good money in trying to force varieties that are not at all adapted for his sec ton or conditions. This be deter mined In many cases only by experience by each individual farmer on his own farm. In fact ever. farm In this country should be made an experimental farm. Such experiments need not be expensive no conducted on a large scale, only small lots need be used, as these if prop erl managed, will enable the farmer to know for himself what grasses, as well al other crops, are best suited for his so With a full understanding of this, one of the greatest causes for failure wish grass will oe removed Another common cause for failure in attempting to grow grass Is in the seed bed prepar- ation. Many farmers seem to overlook the importance of preparing fine, deep. rio seed bed, and oftentlmes grass seed is sown on dry, rough cloddy soils where if the seed germinates at alt the young plants soon perish on becoming exposed to our hot winds and sun. When the farmer comes to know that all soils for grass seed should first be plowed deep, then narrowed and made fine as if for Hover bed, where the smallest tiny seeds are sown then another common cause for failure will be removed.
 Again. often failures are caused by poor seed. This poor seed Is often palmed off on the farmer owing to the fact that he is looking for something cheap. It is the poorest economy that any farmer can ever practice to look for or buy cheap seed, This Is true from the fact that the first cost of the seed Is but small item | when compared with all the time, labor and expense of preparing land for seed | ing, and then sowing worthless seed which will not germinate, or if 1t grows at all the per cent of germination Is so small that no stand is secured and the whole thing is total loss, for if only partial stand is secured, the weeds will getssthe start and choke out the plants that have come up. Often this cheap grass seed contains a large per cent of | noxlous weed seed, and as these are sure to grow, the farmer often gets in place of grass, a crop of worthless weeds, which may require years of hard work to eradicate from his soil. Another very in- portant matter regarding the seed, is that only fresh or new seed or many of our clovers and grasses should be used as seed over two years old of some varieties, are not safe to SOW with the expectation of getting q good stand. This will be more dirr11 nn1ar the heading of A. rious varieties.
 Therefore, the farmer who Is buying seed from doubtful sources had always better make a test of the seed and as- certain before sowing what per cent of the seed will germinate, and then govern his sowing accordingly. In fact, 1t may be we'll to test all seeds before sowing. Tests can easily be made by taking sheets of heavy wrapping paper and covering one sheet of the size required with thin sprinkle of fine sand, then dampen the sand either weigh or count the seed 10 be tested, SOW or place them on the sand, take another sheet of the same size and cover over, and place in warm place where there is light Around the cook stove is usually a good place or in some warm window. Keep moist, and in few days if the seed are good the sheet will be green with young plants
 But there Is another point about this test of seeds which should be carefully observed, and that is that seed which often germinate under these favorable conditions will not germinate at all In the field, and due allowance in sowing the crop should be made for this condi- tion We can usually allow for this by observing the plants and noting the per cent of puny or spindlings, which indi- cates that the seed would not germinate except under the most favorable condi- tions. When the planter learns to take all these details of selection, purchase and testing of seed into consideration be- fore sowing, one more Of the causes or failures will be eliminated.
 Many failures arise from not Knowing how to SOW the seed and the quantity of seed to SOW. Often about half the amount of seed that should be sown Is used, and these sown so as to be In patches instead of being evenly distrib- uted over the field. Often the seed IS GOV cred too shallow, and if they germinate at all the plants for want or depth or soil perish. On the other hand, seed are often covered so deeply that It IS impos- sible for the plant to push through. A pretty safe rule to be governed by Tn | this seeding is to have the seed bed so finely prepared that the seed will only have to be covered about three times as the diameter or thickness of the seed. or course we shouldo be governed in this accordingly to the kind of soil we have and the weather conditions at the time of seeding. For heavy clay soils in season. , able weather seed should be covered light or shallow, while fT light or sandy soils they need a deeper covering.
 This is one of the most impOrtant points