THE CULTURE AND USES OF BROME-GRASS. 55 



allowed to lie idle. Returns are of course obtained from the land 

 if the breaking is done in June or July after cutting a crop of hay. 

 In the drier portions spring plowing is necessary, but since grain can 

 not be sown on the sod no returns are obtained until the following 

 year. Good results are sometimes secured from breaking the sod in 

 the fall and soAving oats or some other small grain in the spring. 

 "When this is done the grass comes on for a full crop the next year. 

 This method, however, is not commonly practiced. 



Disking appears to give better results in the humid than in the 

 drier sections, but in general it can hardly be said to give entire 

 satisfaction. Better results are obtained' on sandy or loose soil than 

 on a heavy soil where a tough sod is formed. Farmers who have 

 done very little toward improving their meadows are commonly of 

 the opinion that disking is an effective means of renewing them, but 

 actual experiments indicate that the value of this treatment is con- 

 siderably overrated. Harrowing with a drag harrow in July after 

 the hay is cut has proved benefic-ial in some instances. 



The practice of applying barnyard manure to unproductive 

 meadoAvs has not been followed to any great extent, and under present 

 conditions it is hardly j^racticable. The results obtained from such 

 treatment have not been very definite, and in some cases they have 

 been quite contradictory. That a liberal application of barnyard 

 manure, even when no other treatment is given, will materially in- 

 crease the yield of hay from a so-called " sod-bound " meadow has 

 been proved by reliable and successful farmers. Best results have 

 been obtained by applying an even top-dressing early in the spring 

 before the grass begins to grow. Sheep manure has been found to be 

 very beneficial. 



Hardly sufficient evidence has been obtained to Avarrant definite 

 statements regarding the value of various fertilizers. Prof. J. H. 

 Shepperd, of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, in 

 the season of 1905 obtained some results that w^ere very favorable to 

 the use of nitrate of soda. At the Highmore station, South Dakota, 

 experiments conducted with the same fertilizers in 190G gave rather 

 indifferent results. The data available on the subject of reiiewing 

 meadows by either barnyard manure or commercial fertilizers are so 

 incomplete and the practice of renewal in this way is so unusual 

 that it is not considered advisable to discuss the subject further at 

 this time. 



MIXTURES OF BROME-GRASS WITH OTHER GRASSES. 



Some attention is being given to mixtures of brome-grass with 

 other grasses, and very good results are being obtained. The practice 



111— V 



