119 



England it was clearly shown that superphosphate of lime was favorable 

 to the growth of the true grasses, but not to the leguminous plants. Am- 

 moniacal salts were of but little benefit to the grass when applied to the 

 meadow. Nitrate of soda increased the grasses and kept them green for 

 a longer period, more leaves and fewer stems being the result of the ap- 

 plication. A mixture of superphosphate of lime and ammonia had pre- 

 cisely the same effect as the superphosphate alone. Mineral manures 

 alone increased the leguminous plants and diminished the grasses. Min- 

 eral manures and ammonia increased the grasses but not the leguminous 

 plants. Mineral manures and nitrate of soda had the same effect as 

 mineral manures and ammonia. Gypsum produced its greatest effect 

 upon leguminous plants but its effect on the grasses was slight The 

 most potent application was farmyard manure, which increased the hay 

 grasses and the leguminous plants and encouraged the growth of many 

 good grasses and some bad ones, as well as some noxious weeds. It was 

 by far the best application, though attended with some undesirable re- 

 sults. The general conclusion reached was that drainage is highly im- 

 portant. The application of mineral manures, such as potash, lime, gyp- 

 sum and marl, is followed by good results, though attended with too much 

 expense. The use of bones was discouraged. "The grasses proper ap- 

 pear to be the most strikingly independent of any artificial supply of car- 

 bon. The hay crop is more exhaustive of potash than wheat or barley. 

 A predominance of mineral elements in the fertilizers increased the pro- 

 portion of the culms of grasses, while a predominance of ammoniacal salts 

 increased the proportion of leaves. Those manures which much increased 

 the produce of hay, at the same time very much increased the proportion 

 of graminaceous plants. The total miscellaneous herbage (chiefly weeds) 

 were the m'ost numerous in kind and nearly in the greatest proportion on 

 the unmanured land, viz: 16 per cent, while on the manured plat they de- 

 creased to 2 per cent." 



In summing up the results of these painstaking and suggestive experi- 

 ments, Baron Lawes says: 



"We learn from these results that good pasture grasses can never 

 thrive upon a poor soil; and if a soil does not contain in itself the ele- 

 ments of fertility they must be added from external sources. I may add 

 that if the pasture of a rich soil deteriorates from bad treatment the good 

 grasses do not die out, but only retire from the contest to wait for better 

 times. Under invigorating treatment it will be found that the good 

 grasses soon reassert their supremacy. 



"The general result, comparing the product by the different manures 

 in one and the same season, seems to be that the more the produce is 

 graminaceous the more it goes to flower and seed, and the more it is 

 ripened the higher will be the percentage of dry substance in the hay. 

 Under the same circumstances, the higher will be the percentage of 

 woody fiber and the lower will be that of the nitrogenous compounds and 

 of the mineral matter. On the other hand, in a large proportion of the 

 non-graminaceous herbage the reverse of these things is true." 



TROUBLESOME PLANTS IN MEADOWS The proper care of 

 meadows after they have been mowed must not stop with the application 

 of manures. There are many noxious plants and weeds that spring up 



