286 



Manuring of Old Land Hay. 



[JULY, 



If dung is available, 10 tons dung and 10 cwts. slag is a good 

 first dressing per acre for poor soils, and this may be followed 

 with the same dressing of dung every third or fourth year and 

 a dressing of 5 cwts. basic slag of good quality every three years. 



For soils rich in lime, superphosphate may be preferable to 

 basic slag. 



(2) Basic slag and the potash manures will give the best 

 effects if applied early in the winter. The distribution of all 

 the manures must be perfect and they should be well harrowed 

 in, especially if the herbage is at all coarse and benty. It is 

 advisable that when the turf of an old land hay field becomes 

 matted it should be grazed for one or more years with cattle, 

 as this class of stock is most effective in treading down turf ; 

 such land is also greatly improved by harrowing in spring with 

 heavy harrows. It is desirable also that the aftermath of old 

 land hay should be grazed and not mown, as the former does 

 much to keep the turf in fine condition. 



(3) On the whole, neither ground lime nor common lime 

 have given anything like profitable returns, even several years 

 after their application ; in fact, these experiments indicate 

 that basic slag is really the best source of lime for this purpose, 

 and that it owes its good effects to the lime as well as to the 

 phosphates that it contains. Half a ton of basic slag contains 

 as much lime — partly free and partly in combination — as is 

 contained in \ ton of ground lime. The fineness of grinding of 

 the slag undoubtedly increases the effectiveness of the lime 

 as well as of the phosphates it contains. It is, therefore, 

 suggested that for most soils, the use of basic slag makes the 

 application of either common lime or ground lime unnecessary 

 for old land hay or for pasture. It is only soils of a peaty 

 character, or those with a good deal of rough, matty herbage, 

 or some organic matter, that are likely to give a return from 

 these forms of lime. Slag generally supplies the lime require- 

 ments of all except this class of soils with more profitable 

 results. The results of some experiments elsewhere have 

 indicated that lime added to slag diminishes the good effects 

 of this latter manure. 



