Food for Plants. 10^) 



It can best be sown with a wheelbarrow, broadcast grass 

 seeder, sowing ten quarts each w^ay of the field for most 

 even distribution, after which the seed should be dragged 

 into the soil about one inch deeji, by going over the held 

 once or twice with a slant-tooth drag or a weeder with 

 sufficient weight attached to obtain the desired result. 



Finish the operation by going over the field with a 

 roller, to roll down the loose stones on the surface and 

 to compact the surface soil, thus bringing the moisture to 

 the surface so that the seed will all germinate at once and 

 come up evenly over the entire field. 



Nitrate Application. 



So far we have insured a good, clean, thick stand of 

 healthy timothy plants, and we have supplied them liber- 

 ally ^\'ith the mineral plant foods that are liable to be 

 deficient in the soil, but we have made no provision for 

 the plants having an abundant supply of available Nitro- 

 gen the next spring when they are making their most 

 rapid growth, and their need is greatest, xlt that time 

 there is always a scant su])ply of solul^le Nitrogen in the 

 surface soil, owing to the fact that when the excess mois- 

 ture settles down into the lower levels of the soil it 

 carries Nitrogen in solution with it, and the stores of 

 humus Nitrogen are not rendered soluble, except in very 

 slight amounts, until the soil warms up to a degree of 

 temperature wherein the soil bacteria again become ac- 

 tive and convert organic and other forms of Nitrogen 

 into Nitrates. 



To overcome this natural deficiency of soluble Nitro- 

 gen at a critical time in the growth of the timothy plants, 

 Ave must supply it in an available form, and this can best 

 loe done by applying broadcast about 100 to 200 pounds 

 of Nitrate of Soda per acre as a top-dressing as soon as 

 groA\i;h starts in the spring. 



Cornell University Experiment Station Bulletin, No. 

 247, p. 203, puts it thus : 



" Having water-soluble Nitrogen on tap at the right hour and the 

 right place is one of the factors that enable the Cornell Station to grow 



