254 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



materially in securing a stand of both clover and grass. The 

 use of top-dressings of manure on the thinner spots in pastures 

 and meadows is also to be recommended, using a manure spreader 

 and applying the manure lightly. 



Improving Old Pastures. 



Where a pasture has begun to fail it can be made much more 

 productive by drilling in with a disk drill, in early spring, a mix- 

 ture of two pounds red, two pounds mammoth and one pound 

 alsike clover, running the seed into the gashes made by the disks. 

 If a disk drill is not available, the land may be disked, the seed 

 broadcasted, and then harrowed. This seeding of clover greatly 

 increases the pasturage for two or three years following and 

 stimulates the bluegrass through the nitrogen added to the soil 

 by the clover. 



A word should be said as to the importance of using grass 

 and clover seed of good quality. The best grades of all seeds 

 are always cheapest in the end. The weed seeds so commonly 

 present in the cheaper grades of seeds, together with the low vi- 

 tality of these cheaper grades, especially among the grass seeds, 

 are responsible for a large percent of the pasture and meadow 

 troubles. 



The Seeding of Alfalfa. 



Alfalfa is one of the most important forage crops that the 

 Missouri farmer is growing today. Its wide adaptability for 

 feeding to all classes of farm animals, its high feeding value, and 

 its beneficial effect upon the soil make it a very desirable crop to 

 grow. The idea that it cannot be grown successfully in Missouri 

 is largely a matter of not understanding the requirements of the 

 plant, and as these become better understood there is no doubt 

 but it will be grown to a greater or less degree in practically every 

 section of the state. In the richer sections it will be grown upon 

 the uplands, and in the less fertile sections it will be grown in 

 the fertile valleys and bottoms. 



