SPECIAL FARM TOPICS 221 



early-cut hay, in the corn ensilage, and especially in clover and peas 

 in the hay. 



These last two classes of hay do a great deal toward supplying 

 the protein of a dairy ration, and the small grain that is grown on 

 several of the farms described supplies still more, whether it is fed 

 in the straw, as the pea and oat hay of some of the farmers, 

 or thrashed out. The cropping system followed on New England 

 dairy farms is more or less applicable to such farms in other sec- 

 tions. (F. B. 337.) 



TOP-DRESSING GRASS LAND. 



Grass lands require special fertilizer treatment. After the 

 meadow has been established on land of good fertility and in good 

 tilth and crops of hay are removed each year, the original supply of 

 plant food is diminished and the productiveness of the meadow neces- 

 sarily decreases. In order to maintain its profitable yielding capac- 

 ity the supply of plant food must be kept up through fertilization. 

 The method of applying fertilizers presents some difficulties which 

 are not encountered in fertilizing the soil for most of the other crops. 

 The grass remains upon the land continuously for a series of years 

 and there is no opportunity for plowing under green manure or ap- 

 plying barnyard manure or commercial fertilizers and incorporating 

 the same into the soil from the time one crop is removed until the 

 succeeding one is put in, as can be done in the culture of annual 

 crops. Furthermore, the coarser undecomposed material of barn- 

 yard manure which remains upon the meadow is likely to be raked 

 up with the hay, which is a decided disadvantage, and the manure 

 sometimes also has the effect of reducing the quality of the grass by 

 causing a rank growth and by the introduction of weeds. The use 

 of commercial fertilizers on meadows has the advantage of leaving 

 the barnyard manure produced on the farm available for other crops, 

 to which it can be more readily and satisfactorily applied. If barn- 

 yard manure is to be used on a meadow it should be applied as a 

 uniformly fine and well-rotted compost. (Rd. Id. B. 57, 71, 82, 90, 

 103; F. B. 222, 276.) 



For different reasons given, and also on account of the greater 

 availability of the plant food they contain, certain commercial fer- 

 tilizers are better adapted to top-dressing grass lands than barnyard 

 manure. The farmer must know, however, the kinds and quantities 

 of fertilizers best suited for this purpose, at what time the application 

 should be made, and whether under ordinary conditions he may 

 expect a profitable return. These questions have been studied by the 

 Rhode Island Station in an experiment extending over a period 

 of six years, and the results obtained are here briefly summarized. 



The experiments were begun in 1899 on three plats, numbered 

 17, 19, and 21. Since 1893 these plats had been devoted chiefly to 

 the growth of leguminous crops and had received annually 180 

 pounds of muriate of potash and a quantity of phosphoric acid ap- 

 proximately equivalent to an application of 1,200 pounds of acid 

 phosphate containing from 13 to 14 per cent of available phosphoric 

 acid. During this same period plats 19 and 21 received each year 



