35 



grade sulfate of potash 200 pounds, though these amounts may, of 

 course, wisely be varied to some extent according to the crop which 

 precedes the clovers. What materials it will be best to use for the pur- 

 pose of supplying the needed nitrogen for the jjreceding crop, and in 

 what quantities, it is impossible to say without knowledge as to what 

 that preceding crop is to be. If corn, only moderate quantities of 

 nitrogen would be required, and this may wisely be furnished in mate- 

 rials furnisliing this element in forms varying in availability. .\s a 

 rule, the needed nitrogen may wisely be obtained by a combination of 

 nitrate of soda, tankage and possibly raw bone meal; and for corn, in 

 the proportion of about one part of nitrate to three of tankage and 

 two or three of bone meal. The total quantities of these materials 

 which it will be profitable to use for corn in connection with slag and 

 potash must vary widely with the condition of the soil. Six hundred 

 pounds of a mixture with the different materials in the proportions 

 indicated will ordinarily be sufficient. All these materials, nitrate, 

 tankage, bone, meal, slag meal and jjotash, may be mixed after the 

 land is plowtjd, spread broadcast and harrowed in. 



Fertilizers for Clovers in Permanent Moioings. 



To get permanent mowings to produce hay composed largely of 

 clovers, it will be wise to depend chiefly upon the fertilizers which have 

 been under consideration. Basic slag meal or bone meal should be 

 mainly depended upon as sources of phosphoric acid, and lime and 

 either the high-grade sulfate or low-grade sulfate of potash as the source 

 of potash. Excellent crops can be produced by a combination in suit- 

 able amounts of these materials alone, and the clover will comprise a 

 larger proportion of the product if they be used without materials which 

 will supply nitrogen. On the college farm at Amherst crops of hay 

 rich in clover have been produced year after year by an annual top- 

 dressing composed of a mi.xture of basic slag meal 500 pounds, and 

 either high-grade sulfate of potash 150 pounds, or low-grade sulfate of 

 potash 300 pounds per acre. The product under this annual system of 

 top-dressing shows fairly good grass, with a bottom full of white clover 

 which grows with remarkable luxuriance and attains unusual size. The 

 fields thus toi)-dressetl contain also many plants of the red clovers. 

 These in tlu; cro]i of the past year seem to be more abundant where the 

 high-giade sulfate of potash was used than where the low-grade had 

 been ai)pli<'d. Basic slag meal is not yet common in our markets. If 

 it be found difficult or impossible to obtain it, bone meal may b(> sub- 

 stituted for it, but it is not likely that it will permanently hold the 

 land in a condition so favorable for clover as the slag meal, for it does 

 not contain lime in so large proportion. The bone meal, however, fur- 

 nishes a small amount of nitrogen and this fact may render it somewhat 

 more favorable for grass than is the slag meal. 



It seems j^robabh; that in most cases somewhat more pn)filablt» crops 

 of hay will be obtained if in connection with either the slag and bone 

 meal or the potash salts a moderate amount of nitrate of soda is em- 

 ployed, and experiments in Amherst indicate that frf)m 150 to 200 

 pounds per acre of this salt in cormection with the other materials seem 

 to be as large an amount as in seasons with abundant rainfall may 

 profitably be used on strong and retentive soils. On the light(>r soils 

 the nitrate may without doubt be more largely employed with jirofit. 



In top-dressing permanent mowings, whether Avith the slag meal or 

 bone and potash alone, or with these materials in connection with 

 nitrate, it is the practice at Amherst to mix the materials and to apply 



