Pleasant Talk About Fruits, Flowers and Farming

by Henry Ward Beecher

LAYING DOWN LAND TO GRASS.

We shall speak of the kinds and quality of seed, and of the time and manner of putting them in.

We think our farmers err in not sowing enough kinds of seed together.

The objects to be secured are very early grass in the spring, a heavy body of hay, a rapid after-growth, and the greatest amount which the soil can yield. No one grass can be found capable of meeting all these ends. Some are very early, but not heavy enough or sufficiently nutritious for the main crop; others are admirable for hay, but do not start readily again after cutting. By judiciously mixing different sorts of grasses, any one of these objects may be secured and the meadow be admirable both for the scythe and for pasturage. Nor can the soil be made to yield all of which it is capable in any other way; for a square foot of ground may be able to sustain but a certain number of roots of any one kind of grass, and yet many support, in addition, as much more of another kind, since different species of grass draw their nourishment from different portions of the soil—the fibrous-rooted grasses from the surface, and tap-rooted plants from the lower strata of the soil, while broad-leaved vegetation, as clovers, lucerne, etc., draw very much of

their support from the air. Indeed, this is the lesson which Nature teaches us, for a dozen kinds of grass may oftentimes be found growing wild on a single square foot.

The English farmer sows from four to seven or eight kinds of grass-seed, and sometimes as high as twelve or fourteen, each one of which is destined to answer some special end, and the whole taken together constitute as it were, a perfect grass.

We subjoin the quantity and kind of seed per acre recommended by English authorities, that our readers may have an idea of the English method, and derive such benefit from it as their circumstances will admit of:

Smooth-stalked poa,	8	quarts.
Rough-stalked poa,	8	“
Meadow fescue,	12	“
Meadow fox-tail,	8	“
Crested dog’s-tail,	6	“
Rib-grass,	4	“
Timothy-grass,	4	“
Yellow oat-grass,	4	“
Perennial rye-grass,	12	“
Cock’s foot,	4	“
Yarrow,	4	“
Sweet-scented vernal,	2	“
White clover,	6	lbs.
Cow-grass,	4	“
and annual meadow-grass.

These seeds may, for the most part, be had of eastern dealers, though not probably in the West.

With blue grass we should join orchard grass, say a bushel to the acre—white clover five pounds, red clover ten pounds, and sweet-scented vernal (anthoxanthum odoratum) say three pounds.

This last grass is remarkably early in the spring, and peculiarly fragrant; indeed, it is supposed that the famous spring butter of Philadelphia derives its peculiar flavor from this grass, and we should include it in every mixture to be

sown for pasturage. The orchard grass is one of our most valuable; for hay it may be inferior to timothy; but it is decidedly superior to it for pasturage. Colonel Powell, of Pennsylvania, after growing it ten years, declares that it produces more pasturage than any cultivated grass he has even seen in America. It should be spread on a floor and sprinkled with water a day or two before sowing, it being very light, not weighing more than twelve or fourteen pounds to the bushel.

The following table exhibits the quantity of seed, by weight, and also on the three kinds of soil:

FOR PERMANENT PASTURE, PER IMPERIAL ACRE.

	Light Soil.		Medium Soil.		Heavy Soil.
	With a Crop.	Without a Crop.	With a Crop.	Without a Crop.	With a Crop.	Without a Crop.
	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.
Perennial rye-grass	12½	24	12	24	12	24
Meadow fox-tail	1¼	2½	2	4	3¼	6½
Timothy-grass	—	—	1½	3	3¼	5½
Meadow fescue	2½	4	2½	4	2½	4
Cock’s-foot	5	8	3¼	6½	2½	4
Rough-stalked poa	—	—	1¾	3¼	3¼	6½
Smooth-stalked poa	3¼	6½	1½	3¼	—	—
White clover	5	8	5	8	5	8
Red clover	1½	2½	1½	2½	1½	2½
Hop-clover, or trefoil	1½	2½	1½	2½	1½	2½
Cow-grass	1½	2½	1½	2½	1½	2½
	33½	60½	34	63½	36¼	66

	Light Soil.
	With a Crop.	Without a Crop.
	lbs.	lbs.
Perennial rye-grass	12	24
Meadow fox-tail	1¼	2½
Timothy-grass	—	—
Meadow fescue	2½	4
Cock’s-foot	5	8
Rough-stalked poa	—	—
Smooth-stalked poa	3¼	6½
White clover	5	8
Red clover	1½	2½
Hop-clover, or trefoil	1½	2½
Cow-grass	1½	2½
	33½	60½

	Medium Soil.
	With a Crop.	Without a Crop.
	lbs.	lbs.
Perennial rye-grass	12	24
Meadow fox-tail	2	4
Timothy-grass	1½	3
Meadow fescue	2½	4
Cock’s-foot	3¼	6½
Rough-stalked poa	1¾	3¼
Smooth-stalked poa	1½	3¼
White clover	5	8
Red clover	1½	2½
Hop-clover, or trefoil	1½	2½
Cow-grass	1½	2½
	34	63½

	Heavy Soil.
	With a Crop.	Without a Crop.
	lbs.	lbs.
Perennial rye-grass	12	24
Meadow fox-tail	3¼	6½
Timothy-grass	3¼	5½
Meadow fescue	2½	4
Cock’s-foot	2½	4
Rough-stalked poa	3¼	6½
Smooth-stalked poa	—	—
White clover	5	8
Red clover	1½	2½
Hop-clover, or trefoil	1½	2½
Cow-grass	1½	2½
	36¼	66

There is a very great difference of opinion respecting the quantity of seed to be sown to an acre. There can be no doubt that the question is to be settled by the character of the soil and climate. In soils and under circumstances where every seed will vegetate and grow off with unobstructed vigor, less seed is needed than where a part will be taken by frosts, a part by drenching rains which are not well drained off, and a part by severe drought. Every farmer must employ his best judgment in this matter; but,

it is better to err on the side of too much than of too little seed.

Time of Seeding.—We cannot pretend to decide between the conflicting opinions on this subject. The positiveness of those who prefer spring-sowing is only to be equalled by that of those who prefer fall-planting. Young says of the month of August, “this is the best season of the whole year for laying down land to grass, and no other is admissible for it on strong, wet, or heavy soils.” This, however, is said of humid England. But if the character of the season toward the close of summer favors, there can be no doubt that fall-sowing will advance the crop very early the next year, in all soils where it is not liable to be thrown out by the frosts. If the winter proves severe, it will be prudent to add an additional quantity of seed in the spring. It is objected to spring sowings, that the grass is grown in the shade during the early part of the summer, and is, of course, tender, so that when the grain is cut, it is enfeebled by the powerful heat, to which, then, it becomes exposed. On the whole, we are inclined to prefer the month of September, if the season favors, to any other for sowing grass seed. Since writing these lines, one of our best farmers informs us that he prefers August to any other month.

Method of Sowing.—The ground should be very thoroughly prepared by deep and fine plowing, and the want of labor in this respect is want of economy.

If the soil is naturally well drained, no further provision against wet will be required. But if it be flat, it may be well to lay it off into lands, strike a furrow through the centre, and then turn the furrows toward the outer on each side. This will give a slight elevation at the middle and a drain between each land sufficient to answer the purpose of moderate surface draining. The seed should be sown with the greatest evenness possible. The English farmer prefers to sow some of the kinds separately on this account; for

although he has to sow the whole ground several times over, experience has taught him, as it will us, that that is the cheapest which is done the best. Let it be covered in well with a harrow, and not with a bush, which last leaves the soil dead, and tends to drag the seed into patches and hollows. As a general rule, grass seed may be planted as deeply as grain. Farmers lose much more seed from shallow than from deep planting. For although shallow-planted seed vegetates sooner, they are more liable to be winter-killed, or to perish by drought than those which are deeply covered.

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