5IO Bulletin 280. 



The lower part of that section of the pasture which incHned to the 

 north became covered, between the plants, with moss. This received 

 a dressing of hydrated lime, which not only destroyed the moss but 

 greatly benefited the clover. 



Whenever the adjoining fields were in corn, both green and dry 

 cornstalks were hauled on to the knolls once a day that the cows' flow 

 of milk might be kept up, the pasture relieved and, incidentally, that 

 the knolls might be compacted and enriched. This practice of feeding 

 supplemental rough food in the fall of the year will generally be wise, 

 for if the food is given at night the cattle can eat in comfort after sun- 

 down and do not need to travel all day and part of the night to satisfy 

 their hunger. It is scarcely to be expected that a cow that has to travel 

 fourteen hours a day for her food and fight flies for ten hours out of 

 the twenty-four, will furnish a liberal surplus for her owner. 



In the early history of the pasture some land-plaster or gypsum 

 was sowed in the spring, but about 1888 this was discontinued. There 

 were, at first, too many weeds in the pasture, but the mowings soon 

 destroyed the annuals, checked the biennials and discouraged the 

 few Canada thistles. The latter were cut off below the ground and 

 each plant was treated with an ounce of salt, which kept the weeds 

 down although it did not wholly eradicate them. The few biennials 

 left in the fall were dug up and each fall, thereafter, a few hours was 

 sufficient to destroy those that would appear. Incidentally the mow- 

 ing cut off the daisies but it did not kill them; when it was discovered 

 that the cattle relished them, though averse to making a full meal of 

 them, no special warfare was waged against them. Yet from some 

 undiscovered cause they have steadily declined until they are hardly 

 noticeable.* 



It may be said, finally, that after the pasture was well established 

 it carried fully three times as many cattle per acre as the average pas- 

 ture of New York state. The major factors in securing this result were: 



1. The clovers were not allowed to disappear. 



2. The stock was not turned on to the pasture in the spring until 

 the soil was well settled and the grass well started. 



* Note. — After 1903 the pasture was not under the supervision of Professor 

 Roberts. Since that date no care has been taken of it with the exception that 

 it has been mown every summer in June, before haying time. It has continued 

 to furnish excellent grazing until the present time. The larger part of the field 

 carries a heavy growth of Kentucky blue-grass and white clover, with some timothy 

 and orchard-grass. The grass on the steep hillside is beginning to become thinner 

 and moss is making headway. It needs liming again. P. J. White. 



