MEADOWS AND PASTURES 21 
green crop has been turned under, to allow it to decay, 
and let one or two good, soaking rains wash the re- 
sulting acids out of the soil before sowing any other 
crop. A very good preparation for worn upland soils 
would be to turn under a crop of rye, let the land lie 
six weeks, then sow cow-peas. Cut the peas for hay 
in time to sow rye again in the fall. Turn rye under 
again the next spring, and grow another crop of peas. 
By the time this second crop of peas is cut for hay the 
land ought to be in fairly good condition to receive a 
grass crop. 
For the particular condition here described the best 
grasses are orchard-grass, redtop, tall meadow oat- 
grass, and meadow-fescue, with red and alsike clover. 
On most of these soils, except where rock is near the 
surface, alfalfa can be started readily after the above 
course of treatment. A very good combination would 
be: orchard-grass, 10 Ibs.; redtop, 5 lbs. of recleaned 
seed, or 12 lbs. of seed in the chaff; tall meadow oat- 
grass, 12 Ibs.; red clover, 8 lbs.; and alsike clover, 
4lbs. In the absence of barn-yard manure, a dressing of 
200 to 400 lbs. of a high-grade, complete fertilizer would 
give the grass a good start. After this grass has been 
down two years, during which time it ought to give 
two cuttings a year, it should be manured and plowed 
up for corn. The corn may be followed by rye or 
wheat the next winter. Cow-peas may advantageously 
follow the grain crop, and give way to the grass crop 
again in the fall. This makes a four-year rotation, 
which keeps the land busy winter and summer. If all 
these crops are fed on the place and the manure re- 
turned to the land, this system of cropping cannot fail 
