MEADOWS AND MAKING HAY. 433 



be applied alone or in cqinbinations, the amount to apply 

 and the quantities in which they should be applied, can 

 only be determined by the attendant conditions in each 

 instance. In a work such as this generalizing on such 

 a subject is all that would be prudent or even possible 

 to do. 



The needs of permanent meadows seldom call for the 

 application of other kinds of plant food than nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid and potash ; some need only one of these, 

 some want two and some want all three. As to the 

 chief of the forms in Avhich they usually come into the 

 market, see p. 393. It is seldom that more than 800 

 pounds of commercial fertilizer are applied on perma- 

 nent meadow lands in one year, and more frequently 

 less than one-half or one-third the amount is applied. 

 In the East and South, it is, of course, much more es- 

 sential to apply these than in the West and North. Eor 

 many situations, equal parts by weight of nitrate of 

 soda, finely ground bone, phosphatic rock and muriate 

 of potash, serve a good end ; more frequently in purely 

 grass meadows, a large portion of nitrogen or phosphate 

 is wanted, in some instances, more of one of these than 

 of the other two combined. The phosphate and potash 

 are probably best applied in the autumn and a part-of 

 the nitrogen in the spring and the remainder soon after 

 the hayjs cut. The object of the second dressing is to 

 stimulate the grass to produce another cutting. In or- 

 der to make large dressings of fertilizer profitable, it is 

 necessary to bave a good thick stand of the grasses, 

 otherwise much of the strength of the fertilizer may go 

 toward sustaining weeds. 



