Food foe Plants. 93 



ill proportion. The phosphoric acid, however, was prob- 

 ably ill considerable excess, since liming sets free phos- 

 phoric acid already in the soil and so lessens the appar- 

 ent financial profit ; but not to an excessive degree. 



Practical Conclusions. 

 From these striking results it must be evident that 

 grass lands as well as tilled fields are greatly benefited 

 by Nitrate, and that it would be to the advantage of most 

 farmers to improve the fertility of their soils by growing 

 good crops of grass, aided thereto by liberal fertilizing. 



The application should be in the form 

 Dressing- Grass of a dressing broadcasted very early in 

 Lands. the spring in order that the first growth 



may find readily available material for 

 its support and be carried through the season with no 

 check from partial starvation. 



On land which shows any tendency to sour, a ton to 

 the acre of slaked lime should be used every five or six 

 years. This makes the land sweet and promotes the 

 growth of grass plants of the best kinds. 



Lime should be sown upon the plowed land and har- 

 rowed into the soil. Top-dressing with lime after seed- 

 ing will not answer, and, in the case of very acid soils, 

 the omission of lime at the proper time will necessitate 

 reseeding to secure a good stand of grass. 



Grass seems to demand less phosphoric acid than was 

 applied in the test ; but it responds with increasing profit 

 to applications of Nitrate of Soda up to 250 pounds to 

 the acre when ample supplies of potash and phosphates 

 are present. 



No stable manure has been used upon the field under 

 experiment for over twenty years. 



It may not be out of place here to men- 

 Nitrate of Soda tion the fact that the late Mr. Clark's 

 as Used in success in obtaining remarkably large 



Clark's Grass yields of hay for a number of years, an 



Cultivation. average of 9 tons of cured hay per acre 



for 11 years in succession, has been 

 heralded throughout the United KStates. He attributed 



