PERMANENT PASTURE 325 
Preparation of land and top-dressing 
In the preparation of the land and in seeding, 
great care should be exercised: to remove all 
weeds, by allowing the land to lie bare for a 
time previous to seeding, and frequently to cul- 
tivate it. Since the pasture is to remain for a 
long period, it is usually important that the land 
be well limed, using from forty to fifty bushels 
per acre, and thoroughly harrowing it into the soil 
in the summer before the seeding. This will not 
only sweeten the soil, but will encourage the 
growth of clovers and other valuable legumes, 
which are always desirable. 
Top-dressings should then be made at least 
once each year, preferably early in spring before 
the animals are turned on. The mixture may be 
similar to that recommended for meadows, applied 
at the rate of 200 to 300 pounds per acre. If ap- 
plied in the fall, after the pasturage has ceased for 
the season, one not containing nitrates is prefer- 
able. An equal mixture of kainit, ground bone and 
acid phosphate has been found to be very useful, 
at the rate of about three hundred pounds per 
acre. This top-dressing not only causes a thicker 
growth of the nutritious grasses, but encourages a 
tendency to deep rooting, and thus a greater 
resistance to drought, besides improving the soil 
from year to year and preventing running out of 
