too, when lack of moisture is i)erhaps the principal reason for the failure of the 

 pasturage. The old grass roots become crowded and die out or are weakened 

 through lack of available food and suitable soil in which to develope. 



It is ver J' readily seen then why the treatment which was given to the pasture 

 at the Kansas Station produced such excellent results. The tearing up of the 

 soil gave ready access to air and moisture, putting new life into the roots of the 

 grasses which were cut up and separated by the disc harrow, so that thousands 

 of new shoots sprang up immediately. The rest for one season gave these new 

 l)lants time to get well established and form a new sod. 



If this treatment is given before the pasture is too badly damaged, there is 

 iisually no need of sowing so much tame grass seed. There is little doubt that 

 an occasional tearing up of this kind and a little care given to the time and 

 manner of pasturing will get as much pasturage from the native grasses as can 

 be obtained from tame varieties under the same conditions. 



MANURING NATIVE PASTURES. 



There is quite a diversity of opinion among farmers and stock raisers on the 

 question of manuring native pasture lands. Some have obtained excellent re- 

 sults b}' manuring, while others seem to have had quite the opposite experience. 



The soil of the western prairies is very rich and under 

 ordinary circumstances will give fair returns without the 

 application of fertilizers of any kind. Nevertheless, it is 

 certain that better returns may be had if more available 

 food is placed within reach of the grasses. Any one who 

 has observed a piece of grass land so situated as to receive 

 the wash from a barnyard, will have found that near 

 the yard where the supply of fertilizer has been great 

 the grasses have become thinned out to a few species, 

 while where the supply has been moderate the grasses are 

 much more evenly developed and the yield decidedly 

 better than upon the unfertilized prairie. The lesson is 

 plain. A too plenteoiis application of fertilizer will thin 

 out the grasses and reduce the yield of forage at least 

 for the first season or two. since many species will not 

 stand such treatment. On the other hand, a proper 

 amount of fertilizer will increase the yield. It is quite 

 possible to use too much fertilizer for any crop, and the 

 native grasses seem to be more sensitive in this respect 

 than the ordinary cultivated species. 



Any pasture which has been grazed closely for some 

 time will be benefited by an application of a thin top- 

 dressing of well rotted stable manure, followed by a 

 thorough harrowing. It is doubtful if much is gained 

 by putting coarse unrotted manure on the pasture; it can 

 be used to better advantage on cultivated land. Ashes 

 usually have a beneficial effect upon grasses on soils not 

 too plentifully supplied with alkali. 



SOWIN(i TAME GRASSES ON NATIVE PASTURE LANDS. 



While it is hardly possible, and not always desirable, to 

 make a native pasture over into a tame one, yet, as stated 

 before, the pasturage may be materially increased by the 

 addition of some of the cultivated species. A pa.sture 

 which has had the thin places seeded to hardj' tame 

 grasses is certainly more valuable than it would be were 

 these same places grown up to weeds. 



In dry upland pastures such grasses as Kentucky blue-grass, sheep's fescue, 

 red fescue, and Canadian blue-grass may be used to advantage. The fescues are 

 especially valuable if the soil is very sandy. 



Lowland pastures, particularly those in which the grass has been killed out by 

 overflowing, may be reseeded with timothy, fowl meadow grass, red top, meadow 

 fescue, and alsike. Kentucky blue-grass will do well if the soil is not too wet. 

 It is likely that smooth brome-grass will prove useful on pastures that are to be 

 kept for long periods of time. 



The practice of collecting the seeds of such native species as western wheat 

 grass, slender wheat-grass, wild rye, prairie June-grass, and the blue-stems and 



Fn;. ;].— Bifr blue-siciii 



(Andropogon provin- 



cialis). 



