A PASTURE HANDBOOK 25 



CULTIVATIOX AND RESEEDING 



Cultivating an old pasture does not improve grazing unless it is 

 also reseeded with especially adapted legumes or fertilized or both. 

 Lack of desirable grazuig plants m a pasture that formerly produced 

 well is due generally to either a decrease in soil fertility or improper 

 grazing. Cultivation alone cannot overcome either of these condi- 

 tions, but cultivation in connection with fertilizing and reseeding has 

 given excellent results in Vermont and Iowa by eliminating weeds, 

 covering the seed, and mixhig the fertilizer with the soil. Quick- 

 growhig grasses and clovers seeded on old-pasture sod that has 

 been well disked and fertilized will give grazing in surprisingly short 

 time, and \\'ill continue to give it wliile slower growing, more perma- 

 nent grasses are becoming established. 



Reseeding alone may be desirable in some instances in connection 

 with the improvement of old pastures, but it is not often a complete 

 remedy. If legumes are scarce in the stand of grass, broadcasting 

 seed on the surface in late winter or early spring is advisable. Such 

 seeding cannot be expected to succeed, however, until fertilizers have 

 been appUed. 



USE OF LIME, COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS, AND BARNYARD MANURE 



The majority of pasture soils in humid sections of the country are 

 deficient in calcium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, and many are deficient 

 in potassium. Very little work has been done in determining to what 

 extent these elements can be added to pastures on a paying basis, but 

 it has been definitely shown that all are valuable in increasing the 

 stand and production of desirable grazing plants when not present in 

 the soil in sufficient quantity. The minerals — calcium (lime), phos- 

 phorus, and potassium — must be supplied before much response can 

 be expected from the application of commercial nitrogen. Barnyard 

 manure has given good increases in the production of pasture plants; 

 and, where available, it can well be used on pastures. 



It is folly to expect fertilizers to produce a good growth of grass on 

 extremely poor soils or soils that have never been productive. Such 

 land had better be returned to timber production. On soils of fair nat- 

 ural fertility, much can be expected from fertilizing, particularly where 

 the land has never been fertilized, or has been neglected for several 

 years. Applications of superphosphate alone are usually the most prof- 

 itable, because it costs less than other mineral fertilizers and, by en- 

 couraging the legumes, supplies through them nitrogen for the grasses. 



If a fair stand of desirable pasture plants is present, the fertilizer 

 treatment shown in table 8 is siu-e to result not only in a larger growth 

 of these plants but also in an improvement of the stand, especially of 

 stoloniferous plants, thereby enabling them better to compete with 

 weeds. 



Table 3. — Fertilizer treatment for growth -promotion and improvement of stand 



