HUMUS NEEDED IN SOILS 277 



the drouthy soils to cultivated crops. Moisture is con- 

 served by deep plowing and cultivation of the soil. Deep 

 plowing on certain types of soil will help the grass, but 

 cultivation after once meadow or pasture is laid down 

 must cease. Alfalfa meadows are sometimes tilled after 

 being cut, but no other meadow plant seems adapted to 

 this culture, and it is hardly proved that it is profitable 

 so to treat alfalfa. It is notable that soils well filled with 



Bluegrass (125 Ibs. green) from a square rod of Manured Land Equal to 20,000 

 Ibs. green per acre. 



humus hold more moisture than those without vegetable 

 matter, as the latter dry out like brick and are not well 

 adapted to the growth of shallow-rooted grasses. If one 

 wishes to grow grasses on these hard soils one should 

 strive to get into them as much manure or vegetable mat- 

 ter of any kind as can be secured, and afterward try 

 so to manage that the grass will in a manner mulch 

 itself by leaving enough of it to shade the land. There 

 is great virtue in shading land, thus preventing injury 



