January 1904.] Renewing Flooded Lands. 135 



soil loose and mellow for a time. If the plowing was done in the fall 

 or winter, grass may be seeded next spring ; otherwise it will be better 

 to plow as soon as the soil is in a fit condition in the spring, leave the 

 land fallow during the summer, cultivate with the Acme or disk-harrow 

 occasionally, and seed to grass early in September. 



If the land is fairly well drained and not too low, a mixture of 

 orchard-grass, ten pounds, meadow fescue, eight pounds, Bromus 

 inermis, six pounds, with one or two pounds of Red clover, per acre, will 

 make a good pasture. For hay, sow three times the quantity named of 

 one of the above grasses, with two pounds of Red clover. A mixture of 

 orchard-grass, Bromus inermis and Red clover will often make an ex- 

 cellent hay meadow. On low, wet lands a mixture of redtop, fifteen 

 pounds, and Alsike clover, two pounds, per acre, will make a good 

 meadow or pasture. Alsike clover may also be properly substituted 

 for Red clover with the other grasses on the drier land, and a small 

 amount of Bromus inermis and perhaps orchard-grass mixed with the 

 redtop may often prove valuable, especially for pasture, when seeded 

 on the wetter lands. 



WASHED LANDS. Where the surface soil was largely removed but no 

 great amount of deep washing occurred, the land may perhaps soonest 

 be reclaimed and made productive by seeding legumes and grasses, 

 but a little different plan should be followed than that described for 

 "mudded" and "drowned" lands. Not only have the bacteria and 

 soluble plant-food been largely removed from washed fields, but the 

 richest part of the soil, containing the humus, has been removed. 

 The subsoil or the subsurface soil remaining is sure to be relatively 

 poor in humus, although the supply of mineral plant-food may be 

 sufficient to produce good crops. Perhaps some of the fertile surface 

 soil remains ; at least, the top part of the washed soil will doubtless be 

 richer in humus and contain more plant-food than the deeper soil. 

 Therefore the ground should not be tilled deep, but shallow plow- 

 ing or even disking the surface will prepare a more suitable seed- 

 bed than deep plowing. The grasses mentioned above as being 

 adapted to fairly well-drained soils, and perhaps alfalfa, can be suc- 

 cessfully seeded on washed lands which contained enough available 

 plant-food to start and establish the young plants. The seeding should 

 preferably be done early in the spring. 



If the washed land is too poor to start grasses, or if it is desired to 

 continue the use of the land for cultivated crops, it will be necessary 

 to build up the humus of the soil by the application of stable manure, 

 by green manuring, or by the growing of annual legume crops. A 

 good coating of well-rotted manure disked into the ground will much 

 improve the seed-bed for the planting of legumes and grasses and 



