GRASS SODS 



the first year it occupies the ground by itself. 

 With little or no aid from manure or commercial 

 fertilizer, it adds much to the supply of organic 

 matter in the soil, and it produces a hay crop that 

 may be made into manure or converted into 

 cash. 



If the sod were broken the following spring, 

 giving to the soil all the aftermath and the mass 

 of roots, its reputation with us would be far better 

 than it is. This would be true even if it had re- 

 ceived little fertilizer when seeded or during its 

 existence as a sod, not taking into account any 

 manure spread upon it during the winter previous 

 to its breaking for corn. But the rule is not to 

 break a grass sod when it is fairly heavy. The 

 years of mowing are arranged in the crop-rotation 

 to provide for as many harvests as promise im- 

 mediate profit. On some land this is two years, 

 and not infrequently it is three. Where farms 

 are difficult of tillage, it is a common practice 

 to let timothy stand until the sod is so thin 

 that the yield of hay is hardly worth the cost of 

 harvesting. Then the thin remnant of sod is 

 broken for corn or other grain, and the poor phys- 

 ical condition of the soil and the low state of 

 available fertility lead to the assertion that timothy 



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