274 Bulletin 261. 



in combination the nitrate is the material that produces the maximum 

 profit. The relatively high yield of hay on the plat receiving the single 

 application of potash was due largely to the growth of a large amount of 

 alsike clover, which this special fertilizing constituent seemed to favor. 



Of course, the fluctuations in the cost of the various fertilizing constit- 

 uents from year to year and in the selling price of hay will tend 

 to vary somewhat the net gain that the farmer will receive from 

 the use of fertilizers on this crop. However, the results of this test so 

 far seem to substantiate beyond a doubt the fact that when farm manure 

 is available, the farmer who is growing timothy on the special type of soil 

 described in this bulletin may receive very remunerative yields from its 

 iise. When manure is not available, commercial fertilizers judiciously 

 used will bring very profitable returns. 



SUGGESTIONS ON FERTILIZING FOR TIMOTHY 



It is difficult to make definite recommendations in regarcj to the use 

 of fertilizers for grass lands. It is definitely known that chemical 

 fertilizers very often, we may say usually, exert a marked influence on 

 crops, but it is almost impossible to say just what fertilizers or how 

 much of them should be used in a given case with the assurance that 

 the results will be favorable. Even,' farmer must experiment with his 

 own land, using the experience of other farmers and investigators as 

 suggestions only. 



Of the fertilizing elements usually applied as plant food, nitrogen 

 seems to be the most potent factor in increasing the yield of timothy 

 and related grasses. Unlike the clovers and other leguminous plants, 

 timothy is incapable of acquiring an}' of its nitrogen from the air, but 

 must depend on that supplied to the soil. The best evidence shows 

 that it requires for its full development a liberal supply of nitrogen 

 throughout the growing period. This has been clearly demonstrated 

 by the experiments described in this bulletin as well as by results obtained 

 at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station,* and at the 

 New Jerseyt and Rhode IslandJ Agricultural Experiment Stations. 

 Nitrogen seems to attain its greatest efficiency, however, when judiciously 

 combined with the mineral elements of plant food, potash and phos- 

 phoric acid. 



In the experiments on Dunkirk clay loam described in this bulletin, 

 the best financial returns were obtained when farm manure was applied 



*N. Y. State Exp. Station, Annual Report 8, pp. 285-288. 

 tN. J. A.e;ric. Exp. Station, Annual Report, 1894, pp. 1 16-120 

 JRhode Island Station Bulletins 57, 71, 82, 90, 103. 



