MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



53 



them should be applied in any given case with assur- 

 ance that the application will be profitable. It is 

 fairly certain that fertilizers do not produce much 

 effect on soils that are not pretty well supplied with 

 deca}~ing vegetable matter, except in the case of cer- 

 tain sandy soils that are always in good mechanical 

 condition. Dr. E. H. Jenkins, of the Connecticut 

 State Experiment Station, after a lifetime spent in con- 

 ducting fertilizer experiments, and after reading the 

 results of practically all the experiments of this kind 

 that have been published, both in Europe and Amer- 

 ica, at a recent gathering of agricultural chemists said: 

 1 1 The only recommendation I can make with confi- 

 dence is that barn-yard manure is a good thing to put 

 on land." 



While we know that many farmers in the older 

 sections of the country are using fertilizers with profit 

 to themselves, it is necessary for every man to depend 

 largely on his own experience in this matter. It re- 

 quires long years of experimenting to arrive at reliable 

 conclusions regarding the use of fertilizers. Several 

 of our experiment stations are doing splendid work in 

 this line. In time we may hope that they will be able 

 to give us safe rules to follow. Regarding the use of 

 barn-yard manure on grass-lands it is possible to 

 make positive recommendations; as to the use of com- 

 mercial fertilizers, if one will take the trouble to read 

 the recommendations of different authorities it will be 

 seen that we are quite in the dark. 



The farmer who probably produces the largest 

 crops of hay in America makes the following state- 

 ment concerning his practice in the use of fresh stable 



