FOLLOW-UP WORK ON GRASS SEEDS 



In a number of counties where farm bureaus have not yet been 

 established. D. P. Witter, one of the lecturers in the Bureau of 

 Farmers' Institutes, did considerable follow-up work during the 

 summer of 1916 in aiding farmers to carry out the teachings of 

 the institutes. Some of the interesting results of this work on 

 grass lands are given in the following paragraphs : 



On the farm of P. J. Taylor of Owego, eleven acres of alfalfa 

 were started in 1915, on gravelly land having a deep, open subsoil. 

 Care was e^xercised in the preparation of the soil before seeding, 

 and the land was limed and an application of acid fertilizer given. 

 Inoculation was accomplished both by application of soil and by 

 cultures on the seed. The land was badly washed on several 

 occasions during the time of preparation, and when the seed was 

 sowed, it was not in the best condition. Plant food was abundant 

 and inoculation excellent, however, and the total yield of hay for 

 two cuttings has been more than thirty-six tons on eleven acres. 

 The third cutting will bring the average yield for each cutting up 

 to more than four tons an acre, a creditable record for the first 

 year. 



Another experiment productive of interesting results is being 

 conducted on the celebrated stock farm of Stephen Sanford and 

 Sons, Amsterdam, New York, where in 1915 a five-eighths-acre 

 plat was planted to pedigreed timothy on land that had grown car- 

 rots the preceding year. Previous to planting, repeated harrowing 

 was practiced, and the seed bed was put in good condition. Acid 

 phosphate was applied at the rate of 200 pounds to the acre. The 

 seed was sown with a garden seeder in drills thirty inches apart. 

 Although heavy rains injured portions of the plat, the results on 

 the whole have been very satisfactory. The heads range from four 

 to eight or more inches in length, and the plants grow five feet in 

 height and are very leafy. This plat is being m.aintained for seed. 



A thirty-acre pasture on the same farm, located within fhe race 

 track, is shown in Fig. 702. This photograph was taken July 24, 

 1916, and it was then being grazed by brood mares, although it 



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