432 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the soil. , Nitrogen accumulates under a grass SAvard, and 

 so closes the soil to atmospheric agencies that the process 

 of decomposition becomes very slow. Grass sward then 

 gains less for its annual use tlii'ough nature than tillage 

 land. The turning of such a sward helps other crops to 

 plant food, and through the solution of the elements of 

 plant food a soil opened and tilled is itseh' aided. In any 

 good rotation more plant food is taken from land than 

 Avould be the case if the ground was occupied by grass. 

 These assertions, stated dogmatically, rest upon Avell-taken 

 data, all of which cannot be crowded into a brief paper. A 

 good rotation in the hands of a good farmer should average 

 three tons to the acre, — an adecjuate amount to feed a cow 

 and a half for a pasture season of five months. By it more 

 cows, can be kept than by the pasture S3^stem under chemi- 

 cal fertilization. In accordance with previous suggestions, 

 I pasture one-eighth the tillage lands, and use a part of the 

 tillage crops to supplement the untillable pasture areas, 

 feeding as dry food at barn. 



The sj'stem has an apparent defect. It uses this area but 

 one year, and follows timothy grown as a sale crop. Timothy 

 is said not to make a good grazing grass, on account of its 

 bulbous enlargement at the base of the stem, liable to injury 

 by grazing and trampling, and to its disinclination to throw 

 up a good second crop or to grow after cutting. But graz- 

 ing deals with the young plant, and not one that has matured 

 a hard stem. With me, the system works very well. 

 Others will raise the question of the vital importance of 

 mixed grasses in grazing, and insist on soiling as a sul)sti- 

 tute for grazing. The first point is considered below, while 

 of the second it is enough to state that I am dealing with 

 grazing improved areas. However, it may be said that soil- 

 ing has its drawbacks of a serious nature, and has as yet met 

 the approval of but a mere fraction of farmers after many 

 years of debate and use. At best it is but a debatable 

 system, and one that I have not deemed best to incorporate 

 to any material degree in my farm policy. 



