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Show IRRIGATION FOR THE PASTURE Where Land Is Heavy Sod Water Should Be Allowed to Run for Day or Two to Soak It. Pasture land that is in heavy sod does not let the water soak in readily; therefore It is necessary to have the water running for a day or two in the same place. If cattle or horses are allowed on the land while the water is running they will cut the sod up considerably, con-siderably, and by trampling and "puddling" "pud-dling" the ground will sometimes kill out some varieties of grass for one season. My practice is to have the pasture divided by a fence, writes J. A. Barkhoff of Cascade county, in the Breeders Gazette. Then one part can be pastured while the other is irrigated. As soon as the ground is dry on top one may turn the stock into it and irrigate the other part. The practice of keeping the stock off part of the field at a time also gives the grass a chance to make a better start. On our clay-loam here, for a pasture that Is only to be used for a couple of years, we seed timothy, alsike clover, alfalfa and a sprinkling of perennial rye grass. Where a permanent pasture pas-ture is wanted we use Austrian brome grass (Bromus inermis) with a sprinkling sprink-ling of alsike and alfalfa. The Brome grass has the advantage of being be-ing able to withstand close pasturing and much trampling. It albo comes earlier in the spring than the others. Brome grass is difficult to eradicate when the pasture is broken up for field crops. The pastures should never he grazed closely. The grass, and especially the clovers, should get high enough to allow al-low a clipping to be made with the mower once during the season. |