Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1876 — Seeding Land With Grass and Clever. [ARTICLE]

Seeding Land With Grass and Clever.

Most tillers of the soil cannot be con vinced readily that it is a better practice to sow grass seed and clover seed where no grain is growing than to sow such seed in connection with the seed of some cereal crop. The argument in favor of stocking down land with grass and clover where rye, wheat, oats or barley may be ■ growing is that the young grass and tender clover require shade uotil their own leaves have . Attained sufficient sixe to shade the surface of the land. If young clover and grass could have the benefit of a partial shade the argument would be reliable. But the tender plants need the shade moet just when the seed-leaf of the clover is unfolding and when the delicate spikes of grass are Just at that particular period the broad leaves of the growing grain will spread out over the entire surface, and in many places the foliage will be so dense that the young clover and tender grass will be smothered. Every observing person knows that young clover and grass will often be entirely killed in places where seed grain was sowed so thickly as to cover the ground with a dense foliage. If clover seed and grass seed could be rowed on a fresh and mellow seed-bed when a thin crop of growing rye, wheat, oats or barley was about two feet high, the grass and clover would then have the benefit of a partial shade, aad none of the tender plants would be smothered. But as that would be impracticable, the better way to insure a good and satisfactory “ catch” is to sow the grass and clover seed on soil recently worked, where do crop of grain is growing. Some farmers prefer to sow J their grass and clover seed among their growing Indian com just before the tassels appear. If level cultivation is adopted, (his practice will seldom fait to insure an excellent •• catch” of grass apd clover, as the growing crop of com trill afford ' a partial shade without smothering any of the tender-plants. If the ground is in a state qfmedium fertility whore corn is growing, and if clover seed and grass seed be sown Xmong the corn about the middleof summer, the young forage plants will become ao firmly rooted before winter that cold weather will not heave out the clove/ unless the soil is excessively wet. The practice of stocking down land in

connection with a crop of cereal grain has been in vogue so long that few farmers can be persuaded to prepare their ground bymanuring, plowing, harrowing, grading and rolling, and sow nothing but grass seed and clover seed. Yet this would be the better practice. When bay seed is scattered along the beaten track of - the high-wav, wherever there is sufficient depth of soil to effect germination, grass will soon cover the ground, which proven t conclusively that if grass wifi grow in the highway without any preparation of the soil, and without the advantage of a coo-genial-seed bed, and without any shade at all, surely the young plants will grow luxuriantly where the soil is fresh, mellow and fertile. The frost important consideration in stocking clown land is to have the surface mellow and sufficiently fertile to promote the growth pf young clover and grass after the sbCd have germinated. In numerous instances the land is in such an impoverished condition that young clover and tender grass cannot find any plant food in an available 'state. Hence, shortly after the little substance in the seed is exhausted the plants will wither and die. During several seasons past our practice has been to plow the. land in the former part.of the growing season, about the time to plant com, harrow the surface, making it smooth a* practicable, then sow clover and grass section the fresh soil be-, fore rain Jails. By scattering the seed before rain has fallen, most of the little kernels will roll down in fee depressions, and the first rain will wash the soil over them so completely that everyone will germinate. If the surface is at all lumpy, the sods and clods should be placed in hollows,a roller should be passed over the field, and the gras* seed should be sowed after the ground is rolled. If grass seed be harrowed in, more seed will be lost by being buried too deep, by the harrow and the feet of heavy teams than will fail to germinate, in consequence of remaining on the surface not covered with earth.— N. X. Herald. '* ,l «

‘ To square any number ot two figures ending in five: Multiply the ten’s figure by one more than itself, and annex the square of the unit’s figure. Example: ? Square 45. The ten’s figure is 4; multiply this by one more than itself; 5, and the product is 2ft; annex fee square of 5, the unit’s figure, which > 25. «d4he answer is 2.1K5. This can all be done mentally, which is the advantage. To square « auv number endiM in 25: I* nunPSiSSsS unit’s figure and then dohWtrthe number... tIIUS The rule m*y be MMk more gen««b thus : Annex the nnlFs M fee hundred a figure, multiply by the hundreds figure, v; and annex the sqttafehot •». Example: Square 225. Annexing W bun- £ hundX-MSSK VIW UUDUreu S. v»V m«vv vy t the square ot 23, we have 50,625, the answer. Thi* can ail bo done ik