IX CARE OF ESTABLISHED PASTURES 63 



Sir John B. Lawes recently informed us that one of the very best artificial 

 manures which could be applied to pasture land is 



I cwt. Saltpetre 1 1 • ht u 



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Manurially speaking, the elements required for plant-growth are nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, potash and, occasionally, lime. 



Heinrich recommends the following trials as the best and most simple 

 method of determining experimentally which of these nutritive elements are 

 required by any particular soil. Nine small plots of uniform size are marked 

 off and dressed as follows, equal quantities of the same fertilizers being, of 

 course, applied to the different plots : — 



Potash. 



Gypsum. 



Phosphoric acid (superphosphate). 



Nitrogen (dried blood ground to powder). 



Potash and phosphoric acid. 



Potash and nitrogen. 



Phosphoric acid and nitrogen. 



Phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash. 



No manure. 



The manure applied to the plot which gives the largest yield contains the 

 element, or elements, required by the soil. If the heaviest crop be obtained 

 from plot I, 2, 3 or 4, one nutritive element is wanted only; if from plot 5, 

 6 or 7, two substances ; and if from plot 8, phosphoric acid, nitrogen and 

 potash are needed ; while if from plot 9, the land is not lacking in any of the 

 3 principal elements of plant-growth. 



Such experiments are of more use, however, if they are continued for 

 several years. 



Harrowing 



Harro"wing Old Pastures. — A succession of wet seasons often has the 

 effect of eliminating some grasses which are only adapted for dry soils ; and 

 not infrequently a felted turf of such kinds as Fiorin is formed to the great 

 injury of more productive species, which are liable to be stifled because the 

 matted network of stems does not permit the access of sufficient heat and air. 

 The result of this state of affairs is that the land becomes sour and unwhole- 

 some, and little by little produces worthless sedges and mosses, instead of 

 nutritive herbage. 



In such cases and, indeed, in all old pastures infested with moss or matted 

 plants, harrowing at the end of March, in April or during early autumn, is of 

 the utmost importance to tear up mosses and creeping surface-rooting species, 

 and so admit light and heat to the soil, to permit the growth of more 

 productive and nutritive grasses and leguminous plants. 



After the moss and worthless seeds have been torn up and raked together, 

 a well-mixed compost containing some i of its bulk of lime may be applied to 

 the pasture, to be spread with the harrow, which, of course, levels such 

 inequalities as mole-hills and ant-heaps. Every harrowing should be 

 immediately followed by a heavy rolling. 



Moles and Mole-hills. — The runs and hills of moles are decidedly 



