CHAPTER XXXVI 

 CARE OF GRASS 



AFTER land is laid down to meadow or pasture it is not the 

 general custom to give it much care or treatment. When the 

 meadow is in short rotation and broken up in two years it is advisable 

 to use the manure and fertilizers for the benefit of the grain crops, 

 but if meadows are down three or more years, it is generally profitable 

 to begin fertilizing the second year. 



Fertilizers for Grass. Grass usually responds most profitably to 

 nitrogen, and second to phosphate. Potash is usually plentiful enough 

 in the soil for grass, but its application is very beneficial to clover. 



Nitrogen, as pointed out heretofore, stimulates the vegetative 

 growth of plants rather than the development of seeds. Nitrogen 

 then is the most logical fertilizer for grasses. Nitrogen gives vegeta- 

 tion a dark green color, while a lack of nitrogen is indicated by a 

 yellow-green color. This can be easily demonstrated by throwing a 

 handful of sodium nitrate on an old lawn or meadow where the grass 

 is not doing well, and note the change in color in about a week. 



While there is usually a supply of nitrogen in soils it seems to 

 become unavailable after a year or two when in sod. This may be 

 due to a lack of air circulation. The point is demonstrated by 

 breaking up an old sod where the grass, by its light green color and 

 poor growth, shows lack of nitrogen. If the land be well prepared 

 and put in corn or grain, there will usually be plenty of nitrogen, as 

 indicated by the dark green color. 



Phosphate is deficient in most of the soils east of the Mississippi 

 River that have been under cultivation for fifty years or more. 

 Throughout the corn belt and south, phosphate is probably as im- 

 portant as nitrogen for grass land, but in the northeastern States 

 nitrogen is considered more important. 



Potash is an element abundant in soils, but is so insoluble 

 that a small amount of potash is generally profitable on grass land. 

 Potash is especially important for clover. It has frequently been 

 noted in fertilizer trials that the liberal use of potasli always gives a 

 much higher percentage of clover in the herbage than when potash is 

 omitted. 

 338 



