Feb. 5 and 6—The State Horticultural Society in Senate Chamber, Madison.
Feb. 5—The Wisconsin Cane-Growers Association, Madison. Prof. Wiley of the Department of Agriculture will be present.
Feb. 6, 7, and 8—Farmers' State Convention, under the auspices of the State Society, at capitol.
Feb. 13 and 14—16th annual meeting of the Southern Wisconsin Cane-Growers' and Manufacturers' Association at Whitewater.
Feb. 6—The Wisconsin Swine Breeders will hold a meeting at the capitol, for the transaction of such business as may come before them and the discussion of subjects appertaining to successful breeding and feeding of swine. All interested in this subject are invited to attend.
Answers to Correspondents.
J. C. McConaughy, Rochelle, Ill.—1. How can I secure a blue-grass pasture? 2. How much seed to acre? 3. Can blue-grass be grown successfully mixed with other grasses? 4. What season and what soil is best adapted to secure a good catch? 5. Can it be grown on low, wet land?
Answer.—1. There are almost as many ways to obtain a blue-grass pasture as there are men who undertake the job, though essentially the practices are alike. The usual method is to sow the seed in the spring or fall, either alone or with clover or timothy. 2. The seed is very light and chaffy, and weighs only fourteen pounds to the bushel, and the amount sown varies from five to seven pounds to the acre. 3. Yes, though after a few years blue-grass, on a true blue-grass soil, roots every other grass out and reigns with a divided empire with white clover. 4. Any good corn or wheat soil will produce good blue-grass—the usual method of obtaining a blue-grass pasture is as follows: To one bushel of good timothy seed one quart of red clover is added, and this quantity is made to cover from five to six acres. The seeding may be done in the fall with fall grain, in the spring with oats, or on stubble or wheat land on the snow in February. After, in the month of August from a peck to a half bushel of blue-grass is sown upon the young timothy and clover. But little or nothing can be seen of the blue-grass for the first year and it does not show vigorously until the third year. Thereafter if the soil is a true blue-grass one and the land is pastured, blue-grass and white clover dominate to the exclusion of everything else. Perhaps the surest way to obtain a stand of timothy and thereafter a set of blue-grass, is to prepare the land carefully and sow rye in October. On this sow timothy and red clover as above on the snow in February or March; pasture the rye, but not too closely, to 15th of May. Harvest the rye at the usual time, and the yield will be all the better for the pasturing, and sow the blue-grass seed on the stubble in August. 5. No, but red top will in spite of your best efforts to the contrary unless you till and thoroughly break up the land.
John Zimmerman, Cameron, Mo.—1. Has setting trees on a fence line as posts for barb-wire been a success? 2. If so what kind of tree is the best? 3. Will the hardy catalpa do, if so what distance apart?