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 | |