THE SUCCULENT ROUGHAGES 217 



of these lands are acid, clover has disappeared and weeds have 

 taken its place. The best aid in building up these pastures so that 

 a good stand of grasses will come in is the use of lime. Acid 

 phosphate will also help. Getting clover back into the pasture 

 through the use of lime and acid phosphate means more nutritious 

 forage and the improvement of the soil through the addition of 

 nitrogen by the legume. 



380. Use lime and acid phosphate. — If one does not wish to 

 go to the labor of plowing up the old pasture and reseeding or if 

 its nature makes plowing difficult, the lime and phosphate may be 

 added as a top dressing. However, the effect is much slower, for 

 it takes time for the materials added to penetrate the soil. It 

 will take at least three years to get much effect from such a top 

 dressing. 



381. Ploughing and reseeding. — On the poorest land where 

 the vegetation is mostly weeds, ploughing and reseeding are cer- 

 tainly the best practice. The weeds will be destroyed at once and 

 the lime and phosphate will take effect immediately. The pasture 

 is best ploughed late in the fall, the lime and phosphate being 

 applied either before harrowing or early the next spring. Use one 

 ton of lime and 200 pounds of acid phosphate per acre. The next 

 spring the grass seed mixture can be sowed with oats. The next 

 year a crop of hay may be cut and the third year the land is ready 

 to be pastured. It may be pastured lightly the second year, but 

 cutting for hay enables the clover to come in better. Further, a 

 good hay crop will repay in part for the labor and fertilizer used to 

 establish the pasture. A good pasture lasting many years should 

 result, where the soil is not too poor. 



382. Grasses for reseeding. — Only certain grasses will grow 

 on a distinct soil type. If the farmer knows by previous observa- 

 tion what grasses will grow on the land in question he should sow 

 these only. However, he usually does not have this knowledge 

 and further the soil may differ in the same field. Thus, it is safer 

 to use a mixture of several grasses. 



Montgomery, in Cornell Extension Bulletin 46, suggests the 

 following mixtures and amounts for one acre: 



