Food for 

 Plants 



88 



Grass Growing for Profit. 



Timothy and related grasses feed heavily on Nitrogen ; 

 they are able to transform it completely into wholesome and 

 digestible animal food. When full rations of plant food 

 are present a good crop of grass will remove nearly the 

 equivalent of the active fertilizer ingredients of 450 pounds 

 of Nitrate of Soda, 300 pounds muriate of potash and 

 200 pounds of acid phosphate. These amounts are recom- 

 mended to be applied per acre as top dressing for grass 

 lands ; and if wood ashes are available 200 pounds per 

 acre will be very beneficial in addition to the above. Grass 

 lands get sour easily, especially when old, and when they 

 do one ton of lime per acre should be ploughed in before 

 seeding down anew. The seeding must be done before 

 September, and the above-mentioned ration should be used 

 as a top dressing the following spring, as soon as the grass 

 begins to show growth. 



If all the conditions are favorable from three to five 

 tons of clean barn-cured grass, free from weeds, may 

 reasonably be expected. When grass crops are heavy and 

 run as high as 4^2 tons per acre field-cured, it is safe to 

 allow 20 per cent shrinkage in weight for seasoning and 

 drying down to a barn-cured basis. Nitrate of Soda, the 

 chief constituent of the prescribed ration, stimulates the 

 grass early and enables it to get ahead of all weeds, and the 

 crop then feeds economically and fully on the other 

 manurial constituents present in the fertilizer mentioned in 

 the formula and present in the soil. 



When Nitrate is around $50.00 per ton and hay at 

 1 1 6.00 per ton the financial results are very satisfactory. 

 Nitrate can be used alone for a season or two and at very 

 great profit, but a full grass ration is better in the long run 

 for both the soil and crop. Generally speaking, 100 pounds 

 of Nitrate, if used under proper conditions, will produce 

 an increase of from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds of barn-cured, 

 clean timothy hay, the value of which will average from 

 1 8. 00 to $12.00. The total cost of the 100 pounds of 

 Nitrate is likely to average $2.00 to $2.50. Or, to put it 

 bv the acre, the cost of the necessary 450 pounds of Nitrate 



