1891. PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 161 



The fertilizer annually applied since 1889 to all the plats 

 alike consisted in each case of eighty pounds of steamed 

 ground bones and of twenty-seven pounds of muriate of 

 potash, or six hundred pounds of bones and two hundred 

 pounds of muriate of potash per acre. 



1890. — A grass mixture was sown broadcast on plats 

 20 and 21. The remaining plats were sown in drills two 

 feet apart, sixteen rows in each plat. The crops seeded in 

 rows were cultivated two or three times, and cleaned with 

 the hoe during; the growing season to remove the weeds and 



o O O 



to clear the crops from admixtures. 



The majority of the plats appeared well nt the beginning 

 of the season. The seeds proved, however, subsequently, 

 in several instances, a bad investment for our purposes, 

 where distinct varieties and not mixtures of grass seeds were 

 needed. 



Plats 11, 12, Kentucky blue-grass, sown Sept. 24, 1889. 

 The growth looked well at the opening of spring, 1890. 

 The cultivator and hoe were applied in the beginning of the 

 season, and again in June, to remove the weeds. The crop 

 was cut for the first time September 19 ; it did not head out 

 during the season. The hay weighed two hundred pounds 

 on Plat 11, and two hundred and sixty pounds on Plat 12. 



Plats 13, 14, red top (Agrostis vulgaris), sown Sept. 24, 

 1889. The seed proved not well adapted to our purpose. 

 It contained a considerable amount of seeds of herds grass. 

 The crop was cut on both plats July 10, and yielded seven 

 hundred and ten pounds of hay in all. The sod was subse- 

 quently ploughed under, and cut up by means of a wheel 

 harrow. The soil prepared later on was reseeded Sept. 24, 

 1890. 



Plat 15, Bokhara clover (Melilotus alba) and esparsette 

 or sainfoin (Onobrt/chis sativa). Both were sown May 8, 

 1889. The Bokhara clover yielded, September 9, two hun- 

 dred and three pounds of hay ; the sainfoin did not head out 

 in the first year, — it reached about five inches in height. 

 Both crops looked fairly well in the spring of 1890, yet 

 showed here and there the effects of wnnter-killing. They 

 were cut for hay ; Bokhara clover yielded two cuts, sain- 

 foin but one. Bokhara clover was cut June 24, yielding two 



