No. 4.] MAXAGEMEXT OF :\rOWIXGS. 373 



is ready to make use of it. It would be a mistake, espe- 

 cially in tiie case of the lighter soils, to apply nitrate of soda 

 in early spring. It should be held until the weather is fairly 

 settled and the grass is l)eginning to make considerable 

 ofrowth. In averao-e seasons from about the 1st to the 10th 

 of May will proljably be found to give the largest increases 

 in the crop. The (quantity of nitrate of soda which may 

 wisely be used in top-dressing mowings doubtless varies 

 widely with soils. Wheeler finds that in Rhode Island ap- 

 plications running up to 300 or 350 pounds per acre prove 

 profitable, and, indeed, that there is a larger profit from the 

 use of such amounts than follows the use of smaller quan- 

 tities. On some soils — and many of the fields of the col- 

 legfe farm seem to have soils of this character — so heavy an 

 application would usually prove inadvisable ; it would render 

 the crop likely to lodge. It has been found on the college 

 farm that about 200 pounds per acre seem to be as large a 

 quantity as it will pay to use. There must, of course, as 

 w ill ))e at once understood, l)e a wide dift'erence in the tend- 

 ency to lodge under heavy nitrate manuring with the season, 

 and no doubt also with the species of grass. In relatively 

 dry seasons the heavy ap})lications may prove useful, but in 

 seasons characterized by frequent and sufficient rainfalls more 

 moderate applications seem preferable. Wheeler has pointed 

 out, as also have others, that the hay produced under heavy 

 applications of nitrate of soda is richer in protein than that 

 produced where less nitrate is used ; but if the more liberal 

 use of nitrate is followed by the lodging of the crop, the 

 loss in quality due to the conditions existing must more than 

 offset any gain due to the greater protein content. 



Should Nitrate of Soda be titled alone in Top-dre.^sing 

 Moimng^^ — In cases where a mowing is used in rotation for 

 hoed crops, and where the hoed crops receive comparatively 

 liberal applications either of manure or general fertilizers, 

 which supply phosphates, potash and perhaps lime, and where 

 the production of hay, which it is desired shall consist chiefly 

 of grasses such as timothy and redtop, for market is the 

 object, it sometimes may be wise to top-dress with nitrate 

 of soda alone. For one or two years it is possible as large 



