MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



21 



green crop has been turned under, to allow it to decay, 

 and let one or two good, soaking rains wash the re- 

 sulting acids out of the soil before sowing any other 

 crop. A very good preparation for worn upland soils 

 would be to turn under a crop of rye, let the land lie 

 six weeks, then sow cow-peas. Cut the peas for hay 

 in time to sow rye again in the fall. Turn rye under 

 again the next spring, and grow another crop of peas. 

 By the time this second crop of peas is cut for hay the 

 land ought to be in fairly good condition to receive a 

 grass crop. 



For the particular condition here described the best 

 grasses are orchard-grass, redtop, tall meadow oat- 

 grass, and meadow-fescue, with red and alsike clover. 

 On most of these soils, except where rock is near the 

 surface, alfalfa can be started readily after the above 

 course of treatment. A very good combination would 

 be: orchard-grass, 10 lbs.; redtop, 5 lbs. of recleaned 

 Seed, or 12 lbs. of seed in the chaff; tall meadow oat- 

 grass, 12 lbs.; red clover, 8 lbs.; and alsike clover, 

 4 lbs. In the absence of barn-yard manure, a dressing of 

 200 to 400 lbs. of a high-grade, complete fertilizer would 

 give the grass a good start. After this grass has been 

 down two years, during which time it ought to give 

 two cuttings a year, it should be manured and plowed 

 up for corn. The corn may be followed by rye or 

 wheat the next winter. Cow-peas may advantageously 

 follow the grain crop, and give way to the grass crop 

 again in the fall. This makes a four-year rotation, 

 which keeps the land busy winter and summer. If all 

 these crops are fed on the place and the manure re- 

 turned to the land, this system of cropping cannot fail 



