TOO Grasses and Lequminous Crops in New York 



the exclusion of grass. There are many seasons of the year when 

 teams and men are not otherwise profitably employed and when 

 they might be used to good advantage jerking out this foul growth. 

 Stony areas are not so susceptible to easy improvement. There 

 are many in the state unprofitably used for dairy cattle that might 

 give better returns through sheep. Many should never have been 

 cleared at all, and now that the damage has been done it might 

 pay to investigate the possibilities of reforestation. There are 

 many pastures in this class where plowing might be hopeless, yet 

 having considerable open spaces where some tillage implements 

 may be used. Such offer considerable opportunity for partial re- 

 seeding without breaking up the old sod. Such work is still in its 

 infancy in this state and it is unwise to assume to speak authori- 

 tatively about it. However, enough results have been secured to 

 offer considerable encouragement to the practice. The first con- 

 trolling factor is the proper season and the best that may be said is 

 " probably some time in May," Soil requirements are among the 

 first things to consider and very generally throughout the state 

 lime, humus, and phosphoric acid will need replenishing. 



Lime is to be had at a cost of not over three or four dollars per 

 ton for ground limestone and should generally be used at the rate 

 of at least one ton per acre to insure results, depending, of course, 

 upon the needs of the particular soil. Humus is hard to supply 

 to this class of land except from the droppings of the animals or 

 in some cases bv direct distribution, where there is an excess 

 supply of manure. Best results so far have usually come from 

 supplying phosphoric acid in the more soluble foims, as acid phos- 

 phate, at the rate of from 200 to 400 pounds per acre. It might 

 be well to state that the lime and acid phosphate should not be 

 mixed. The lime might properly be spread first and worked in 

 with any implement that could be used, as an old disk or spring- 

 tooth harrow. Where neither of these may be used, an old A-drag 

 is serviceable, even when wooden teeth have to be used and replaced 

 when broken. The old turf, or what remains of it, must be par- 

 tially broken up in some way before results can be confidently 

 exy>ected with any top-seeding.* 



* An instance has recently come to my notice of a pasture in St. Lawrence 

 County, wliich was infested with paintbrush. Thi.s was so treated, and the 

 next year clover overspread the ground. — Compiler. 



