FOR SITMMER AND EARLY AUTUMN, ELEVEN GRASSES OR CLOVERS.
1. Avena flavescene. 7. Holcus lanatue.
2. Hordeum pretense. 8. Trifolium pretense.
3. CFnoanrns eriatatua. 9. Trifolium repena.
4. Festuca durivacula. 10. Lathyrue pratensis.
5. Poa trivialie. 11. Festuca glabra.
6. Poe pratensie.
FOR Al7TITMN, FOUR SPECIES.
1. Agroetie etolonifera. 3. Agrostie palustrie.
2. Achilles millefolium. 4. Tnticum repene.
In lot one we should throw out numbers 9 and 11. It is hardly probable that the annual poa, or that the vetches will be valuable. The same may be said of lot two, number 10. The Latherus or pea tribe are valuable for fatten ing, but would hardly stand in a pasture. The same may be said of number 2, in lot three, the Yarrow, or 1VIilfoil. The probability is the list may have to be narrowed still more. Permanent pastures are not made in a single year. They take time, and once they have become permanent, they should be kept so by every means in one's power. Do not pasture too young, and never when so soft that it will poach. Give the sod time to form hard and solid, and you will have a permanent mine of wealth. The object of thick seeding is not only that one plant may support and nurse another, and thus quickly shade the soil, but also that every square inch of soil will surely contain seed. Sixty-four varieties of plants have been found in a single square foot of old English pasture, and from twenty to thirty is not unusual. The improvement of stock commenced in England, and has kept even pace there with the introduction of cultivated grasses and other forage plants. The four quarters of the earth have been examined for whatever might be found. Herein American farmers may take a valuable lesson, not only in experimenting with new grasses, and in the preparation of the soil, and in the quantity of seed sown, but in the great variety sown for pasture as well. The quantity
of seeds sown per acre, at the rate we have indicated, will be something enormous when we recollect their extreme minuteness; but then it must be remembered that the finer the seed the more are lost from not germinating, and by killing before fairly established in the soil. It is poor policy to grudge seed in sowing a meadow, and especially a pasture. The following table will show the common and scientific name of some well known clovers and other plants, and the number of seeds per ounce: Below we give lists of varieties that in England have been found to do well on various soils, with the quantities to be sown. In experiment ing with these and other grasses, we would advise that each species be sown on some trial patches separately, noting their adaptability, season and growth. With this held in view, the following varieties and quantities will be found interesting, remembering that when trial patches of single varieties are sown that the rate of one pound to twenty-five feet square will be sufficient seed for an experimental plot.
The time of flowering of the following grasses in England, their height, and soil adapted thereto, has been prepared, by which the. time of flowering of auy one of the species, (Dactylis, Orchard grass for instance) being known in any locality, that of the others may be very nearly 'computed. The table is as followg: