12 FORAGE CROPS 



the land shall be top-dressed occasionally with lime 

 and commercial fertilizer or manure, that wet places 

 be suitably drained, that fresh seeding be made as 

 occasion demands and that care be exercised in 

 grazing them. With increased supplies of concen- 

 trated plant-food, and knowledge concerniug their 

 adaptability and usefulness in feeding plants, we 

 can now give suggestions which cannot fail to be of 

 great service to the farmer, not only in reducing the 

 expense of forage, but increasing the value of lands. 

 The same is true, in a degree, as to the main- 

 tenance of mowing meadows. Much labor would 

 be saved, and the period of profitable cropping 

 extended, it proper care were taken in seeding down 

 the meadows and judicious treatment were given 

 them afterward. Hay is one of the most valuable 

 crops, taken all in all; yet less care is expended 

 in the growing of this crop than in any of the 

 cultivated crops. It is regarded largely as a scav- 

 enger crop, which gathers up that which other 

 crops have not used; but rather it should be re- 

 garded as a crop that responds to proper treat- 

 ment and that can utilize profitably direct applica- 

 tions of plant -food. 



