1. The plan usually adopted in a preparation for grass seeds is that of sowing our mixture with the barley crop. Now this, in the case of a tenant who is not sure of his tenure, would obviously recommend itself; but to a proprietor wanting a quicker and surer result it offers many objections.
We recommend, after turnips have been fed off on the land, to make the ground as level as possible, then harrow and roll smooth with an iron or wooden roller. Upon this surface our mixture should be carefully sown; then harrow with very light harrows just to cover the seed, and roll again.
By this plan you start the seeds in good soil instead of in that from which you have carried off a crop of ripened grass, straw, and seed; but besides this, your grass will get a stronger constitution than when grown as seedlings amid taller plants, which draw up the “seeds,” and thus make them so weak and attenuated as scarcely to be able to withstand the rigour of winter—a matter of great consequence when our object is to get a vigorously-growing swarth quickly.
2. We come now to consider the kinds of seeds which should be sown; these, though few in number, will yet vary according to soil and situation.
Our remark that few kinds of grasses are required in laying down for permanent pasture may surprise those who have seen the usual prescriptions for this purpose; but if we start in our selection by leaving out coarse grasses,—such, for instance, as Phalaris canariensis (Reed Canary Grass), for damp meadows; annual forms, or at least not permanent ones, such as Lolium Italicum (Italian Rye-grass); and useless varieties, as Poa nemoralis sempervirens, Phleum pratense majus, and the like,—we shall be then confined to as few species of grass as we shall ever find will form the best parts of our best meadows.
Now, as regards sowing useless or annual species, we should recollect that the better they come up the more mischief they create, as they take up the room that the more permanent forms should occupy, and so smother them out. How often have we seen our friends in ecstasies at the success of their new pasture, when the smiling face had been suddenly put upon the matter by the quick-growing Italian rye-grass having taken a possession, which, however, in a year or two it would most probably yield; and so it has happened, that while the seedsman has been advertising a certificate vaunting of success, the pasture is declining, and the proprietor, looking for the reason for such a result, either himself concludes, or is led so to do, that as the seeds came up well, these were not in fault: it must then be the nature of the soil!
In giving such directions for grass mixtures as experience would seem to warrant, we confess to a great deal of diffidence; for as scarcely two cases are alike, the difficulty is as great as would be that of a medical man prescribing for his various patients without seeing them; indeed, to profess to do so in either case, as a general rule, savours somewhat of quackery.
The following tables, then, it must be understood, are only meant to convey some very general notions as to sorts of grasses and other fodder plants, and their quantities, which we should employ under the specified conditions of soil; albeit, even the quantities should be variable, depending upon the quality of the seeds, the season, and the climate in which they are to be sown:—
| 1. Proposed selection for rich loams in best grass-growing positions. | |||
| Botanical Name. | Trivial Name. | Quantity Per Acre. | |
| lb. | oz. | ||
| Lolium perenne | Perennial Rye | 10 | 0 |
| Poa pratensis | Meadow Grass | 2 | 0 |
| Dactylis glomerata | Cocksfoot | 5 | 0 |
| Festuca pratensis | Meadow Fescue | 3 | 0 |
| „duriuscula | Hard „ | 3 | 0 |
| Alopecurus pratensis | Foxtail | 2 | 0 |
| Phleum pratense | Catstail | 2 | 0 |
| Anthoxanthum odoratum | Sweet Vernal | 0 | 8 |
| Trifolium pratense | Common Clover | 4 | 0 |
| „repens | Dutch „ | 2 | 0 |
| 2. Proposed selection for a poor stiff soil on a clay subsoil. | |||
| Lolium perenne | Perennial Rye | 12 | 0 |
| Poa pratensis | Smooth Meadow Grass | 3 | 0 |
| „trivialis | Rough „ „ | 2 | 0 |
| Festuca loliacea | Lolium Fescue | 2 | 0 |
| „duriuscula | Hard „ | 2 | 0 |
| Phleum pratense | Catstail | 2 | 0 |
| Dactylis glomerata | Cocksfoot | 6 | 0 |
| Anthoxanthum odoratum | Sweet Vernal | 0 | 8 |
| Trifolium pratense | Common Clover | 6 | 0 |
| „repens | Dutch „ | 2 | 0 |
| 3. Proposed selection for thin uplands on calcareous soils. | |||
| Lolium perenne | Perennial Rye | 12 | 0 |
| Poa pratensis | Smooth Meadow Grass | 4 | 0 |
| Festuca ovina | Sheep’s Fescue | 2 | 0 |
| „ duriuscula | Hard „ | 2 | 0 |
| Avena flavescens | Yellow Oat-Grass | 1 | 0 |
| „ pubescens | Soft „ | 1 | 0 |
| Anthoxanthum odoratum | Sweet Vernal | 1 | 0 |
| Trifolium pratense | Common Clover | 3 | 0 |
| „ repens | Dutch „ | 5 | 0 |
| Achillæa millefolia | Yarrow | 0 | 8 |
| 4. Proposed selection for light soils on sands.[96] | |||
| Lolium perenne | Perennial Rye | 14 | 0 |
| Poa pratensis | Smooth Meadow | 3 | 0 |
| Festuca duriuscula | Hard Fescue | 3 | 0 |
| Avena flavescens | Soft Oat-Grass | 1 | 0 |
| Anthoxanthum odoratum | Sweet Vernal | 0 | 8 |
| Trifolium medium | Zigzag Clover | 4 | 0 |
| „pratense | Meadow or Corn Clover | 2 | 0 |
| „repens | Dutch Clover | 5 | 0 |
| Lotus corniculatus | Birdsfoot Trefoil | 0 | 8 |
| Achillæa millefolia | Yarrow | 0 | 8 |