102 FOE AGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



of 8044 pounds annually for the 6 years. Commercial 

 fertilizer composed of nitrate of soda, acid phosphate and 

 sulfate of potash gave an average yield of 6380 pounds 

 hay per acre, the average annual cost of the fertilizer per 

 acre being $11.76. In both cases the increased yield gave 

 a large profit. 



88. Top-dressing for aftermath or rowen. Fertilizing 

 meadows to secure a larger aftermath or rowen is seldom 

 practiced. From experiments at the Massachusetts 

 Experiment Station Brooks considers that fertilizing 

 grass meadows with 150 to 200 pounds nitrate of 

 soda immediately after the first crop is removed is 

 profitable. 



89. Acreage of improved pasture in the United States. 

 Statistics and other data relative to American pasture 

 crops are very unsatisfactory. According to the thirteenth 

 United States census, the crops where acreage was reported 

 occupied 68.3 per cent of the improved land. The im- 

 proved land not occupied by crops included pasture land, 

 fallow land, land in orchards whose acreage was not re- 

 ported and land in house yards and barnyards. 



As both fallow lands and the stubble and aftermath of 

 various crops furnishes considerable temporary pasturage, 

 it is conservative to consider 30 per cent of the improved 

 land as pasture, but probably not much over 20 per cent of 

 the improved land is permanent or long lay pasture. If this 

 be true, the acreage of permanent improved pastures is 

 one-third greater than that devoted to " hay and forage " 

 and one-half as great as that of corn. 



90. Area of wild pasture in the United States. From 

 the census figures of 1909 the following table is compiled, 

 assuming that 20 per cent of the improved farm land area 

 is pasture and that half of the unimproved land is pastur- 



