254 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



nitrogen per acre, would fairly meet the average condition. 

 This fertilizer can be secured to-day at about from eight to 

 nine dollars in the best form for immediate action. It is 

 not advisable to reduce the nitrogen in our grass manures to 

 too small quantities, for the best grass crops contain the 

 largest amount of valuable nitrogen compounds. 



No single article of plant food acts independently of the 

 rest ; a liberal amount of nitrogen assists in the liberal as- 

 similation of phosphoric acid and potash ; these elements 

 have a close relation to each other in many of our fodder 

 crops. A fair state of fertility of the soil is an indispensa- 

 ble requirement for a successful production and propagation 

 of our most valuable grasses. 



Quite frequently the entire character of the growth upon 

 grass lands has been improved by changing from a scant to 

 a liberal manuring, without any assistance from new seeds. 

 Those grasses which are best adapted to the altered con- 

 ditions of the soil take the lead. 



The nutritive value of one and the same species or variety 

 of grasses is liable to differ in a more serious degree^ when 

 raised under m,ore or less advantageous circumstances^ than 

 many of our reputed meadoio grasses are represented to differ 

 among themselves, when raised under conditions which favor 

 their successful growth. 



Forage crops, above all other crops, suffer more seriously 

 in regard to quality from a scant supply of plant food than 

 any other class of farm crops. Large areas of grass lands 

 are still too frequently treated with all kinds of manurial 

 substances, without any definite idea of what they can or 

 shall accomplish. A short discussion of some of the more 

 prominently mentioned substances frequently used for ma- 

 nurial purposes upon permanent grass lands may illustrate 

 that statement. 



Common salt is known quite frequently to act l)eneticially 

 on grass lands ; it acts, however, more decidedly on the 

 physical qualities of the soil than as a direct plant feeder ; it 

 assists in the absorption of moisture from the air and econo- 

 mizes inherent resources of moisture, and is thus apt to act 

 better on dry lands than on moist ones ; it assists in the dif- 

 fusion of potash and phosphoric acid, but does not materially 



