296 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



Effect of Manure on Permanent Pasture. I have 

 found nowhere any greater profit from the use of com- 

 mon farm manures than on old pastures, principally blue- 

 grass. Commonly men do not have any means of know- 

 ing just what good they get from manure on pasture. In 

 our lawn, which is newly taken in from an old bluegrass 

 pasture, I applied in the winter of 1908 manure to one 

 square rod of grass, giving it only a fairly liberal dress- 

 ing, maybe at the rate of 10 tons to the acre. In 1909 I 

 harvested the square rod with the scythe, and it yielded 

 more than 125 pounds; in truth, the actual weight was 

 155 pounds, but as it was weighed a little clamp I called 

 it 125 much too little I feel; while the unmanured rod 

 right alongside made a yield of 55 pounds, which I 

 guessed at 40 pounds, allowing for the moisture of dew. 

 These weights were at the rate of 3 1-5 tons and 10 tons 

 to the acre. Thus the manure had made an increase per 

 acre of 6 4-5 tons or about a ton of forage for a ton of 

 manure. This was cut in May, so that there was nearly 

 as much more growth during the summer and fall, which 

 illustrates just how profitable bluegrass pasture may be. 

 Ten tons of silage corn is considered a fair yield of for- 

 age. Is not 10 tons of green grass eaten off by good ani- 

 mals fully as likely to give profit? Consider, too, that to 

 grow the acre of silage corn will cost at least $5 and to 

 grow the acre of bluegrass mixed with white clover has 

 cost only the manuring, which would be even more neces- 

 sary in the case of the corn than in the case of grass. 

 While the unmanured bluegrass, producing about 3 tons 

 of green forage to the acre, might show a small profit, 

 yet the point is to know how yields may be increased. 



