14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ried on in the State of Maine and in Broome County, IsT. Y., 

 these exj)eriments being co-operative between the agricultural 

 colleges and departments of those States. In these experi- 

 ments the use of commercial fertilizers is being quite exten- 

 sively tried. It is hoped that in the course of two or three 

 years more definite information can be given on this subject. 

 Any farmer in this State desiring to try commercial fertil- 

 izers in the improvement of his pasture can readily obtain 

 information from the State Agricultural Experiment Station 

 at Amherst as to the best mixture to use and how to use it. 



Many of these pastures also show a great improvement 

 where lime is used. This is especially true of pastures in 

 New York State. It is noticeable that our forefathers used 

 lime in considerable quantities and for a time obtained excel- 

 lent results. After a while they ceased to get any benefit from 

 the lime and stopped using it. To-day we find many men who 

 are not using lime because their forefathers found that they 

 got no results. They do not realize that after a period of 

 years this lime has been used up, and that it can again be 

 used to advantage. 



Cultivation. —Whereyer a badly depleted pasture is 

 smooth enough and free enough from stones to allow plowing, 

 it should be broken up and put under cultivation for a period 

 of two or more years, and then seeded down again. A number 

 of instances have been found where men have done this but 

 have failed in getting a good stand, oftentimes the pasture 

 being taken over quickly by weeds. In each instance that has 

 been brought to notice the trouble has been in the work not 

 being properly carried out. In a number of cases the farmers 

 plowed the land and put it in crops for a couple of years 

 without fertilizing, then seeded it down. !N"aturally, such a 

 pasture is in worse condition at the time of seeding down than 

 when broken. If such an area had been properly fertilized 

 this trouble would have been prevented. Again, the average 

 farmer in seeding down such an area uses a mixture of grass 

 seeds that are suitable for meadows, instead of using a pas- 

 ture mixture. This means that after the grasses that are 

 naturally adapted for meadow uses have disappeared there 



