I  .XXV. 
NEW  YORK.  APRIL  -2!).  1!>1<». 
Xo.  4.W: 
Old  Pasture  Land  for  Potatoes 
A  Thorough  Review  of  the  Subject 
Part  I. 
OTA  SI  I  PROBABILITIES.— The  It.  N.-Y.  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  is  unusual  in¬ 
terest  in  New  England  at  the  present  time  in  the 
question  of  breaking  up  old  pastures  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  potatoes.  This  unusual  interest  is  due  in  a 
measure  at  least  to  the  fact  that  the  belief  is  gen¬ 
eral  that  these  Old  pasture  soils  are  capable  of  sup¬ 
plying  a  greater  amount  of  potash  than  soils  which 
have  been  for  some  time  under  cultivation.  The 
questions  thus  raised  are  important.  They  would  he 
important  at  any  time.  They  are  particularly  so 
now  when  fertilizer  potash  in  the  usual  forms  can¬ 
not  he  obtained.  While  the  soil  of  an  old  pasture, 
if  of  suitable  texture  and  well-drained,  is  generally 
well  fitted  for  potatoes,  it  is  not  my  belief  that  its 
especial  fitness  for  the  crop  is  usually  due  to  the 
fact  that  it  contains  an  exceptionally  large  propor¬ 
tion  of  potash  in  available  form.  I  hasten  to  add, 
tuents  of  the  soil  must  he  relatively  small.  The 
amount  of  nitrogen  thus  brought  within  the  reach 
of  the  crop  is  subject  to  considerable  variation.  The 
total  in  case  White  clover  is  abundant  in  the  pasture 
turf  may  he  sufficient  to  make  it  of  a  great  deal  of 
value  to  the  potato  crop. 
SOILS  ARE  ACID. — T11  the  great  majority  of  in¬ 
stances  in  Massachusetts  the  soils  of  pastures  are 
acid.  The  potato  is  a  crop  capable  of  thriving  ill  a 
sour  soil  ;  and  not  only  that,  it  is  much  less  liable 
to  he  affected  by  scab  in  such  soils  Ilian  in  those 
which  are  neutral  or  alkaline.  These  considerations 
indicate  a  strong  probability  that  the  pasture  soil 
when  broken  up  will  afford  conditions  especially 
favorable  to  the  potato. 
POTASH  IX  PASTURE  SOILS.— The  opinion  is 
quite  generally  held  that  pasture  soils  will  lie  es¬ 
pecially  rich  in  potash,  and  that  accordingly  at  this 
time  when  it  is  impossible  to  purchase  potash  in 
forms  suited  for  the  potato  at  prices  which  the  farm¬ 
er  can  afford  to  pay  for  raising  that  crop,  it  must 
steady  depletion  in  that  element.  The  principal 
reasons  are  as  follows: 
First: — Pasture  forage  is  rich  in  potash,  as  in¬ 
deed  are  all  types  of  forage.  This  is  especially  true 
if  White  clover  is  present  in  any  considerable  pro¬ 
portion. 
Second : — In  pasturage  the  excrements  of  the  an¬ 
imals,  even  when  the  latter  are  kept  in  the  pasture 
day  and  night,  are  very  unequally  and  disadvan- 
tageously  distributed.  Anyone  familiar  with  the 
habits  of  cuttle  at  pasture  (and  these  chiefly  must 
he  considered  because  sheep  husbandry  is  at  so  low 
an  ebb)  will  at  once  concede  the  truth  of  this  state¬ 
ment.  The  potash  taken  from  the  pasture  in  the  for¬ 
age  consumed  by  the  animal  is  not  to  any  great  ex¬ 
tent  returned  to  the  soil  from  which  it  is  taken. 
Third: — Dairy  cows  far  outnumber  any  other  kind 
of  livestock  pastured  in  New  England.  These  cows 
almost  invariably  are  taken  to  the  pasture  in  the 
morning  and  driven  home  at  night.  The  effect  of 
Ibis  practice  upon  the  proportion  of  the  potash  taken 
The  Foundation  of  All  Success  in  Direct  Trade  is  Sorting  and  Packing. 
however,  that  this  opinion  is  not  based  upon  the  re¬ 
sults  either  of  direct  analysis  of  a  sufficient  number 
of  such  soils  to  lie  conclusive,  nor  upon  direct  ex¬ 
periment  with  potatoes  carried  out  in  such  a  way  as 
to  throw  light  upon  this  particular  question.  In  my 
judgment  some  of  the  more  important  of  the  reasons 
why  old  pastures  are  well  suited  for  potatoes  are 
the  following: 
ORGANIC  MATTER  AND  HUMUS.— Old  pasture 
soils  contain  relatively  large  amounts  of  vegetable 
matter  and  humus.  Both  these  tend  to  accumulate 
so  long  as  the  pasture  is  in  use  as  such.  The  pres¬ 
ence  of  organic  matter  and  humus  mellows  the  soil 
and  helps  greatly  to  bring  it  into  satisfactory  physi¬ 
cal  condition  for  potatoes.  Further,  when  the  soil 
is  broken  up  tills  organic  matter  and  humus,  being 
exposed  to  the  action  of  the  air,  undergo  gradual 
decay,  and  the  plant  food  constituents  which  they 
contain,  most  important  among  which  are  nitrogen 
and  potash,  are  gradually  rendered  available.  The 
amount  of  potash,  however,  present  in  these  consti- 
be  an  especially  appropriate  time  to  break  up  old 
pastures  for  potatoes.  In  the  light  of  the  present  sit¬ 
uation  it  could  he  wished  that  the  question  of  the 
potash  content  of  pasture  soils  had  been  more  thor¬ 
oughly  investigated.  What  follows  is  presented  in 
the  full  consciousness  of  the  fact  that  it  does  not 
amount  to  a  demonstration  that  pasture  soils  are 
not  especially  rich  in  potash.  I  am  forced,  how¬ 
ever,  to  conclude  that  that  is  the  case,  and  I  will 
briefly  state  the  considerations  and  refer  to  the 
known  facts  which  lead  me  to  this  conclusion.  In 
the  first  place  it  is  not  to  he  supposed  that  the  pas¬ 
ture  soil  was  originally  richer  in  potash  than  other 
soils  of  similar  origin  in  the  same  neighborhood,  lie- 
cause  the  geological  origin,  or  in  other  words  the 
nature  of  the  rocks  and  rock  minerals  from  which 
these  soils  were  derived,  must  have  been  essentially 
the  same.  We  have,  therefore,  simply  to  inquire 
wluit  will  be  the  effect  of  the  prevailing  pasture 
management  in  Massachusetts  on  the  potash  content 
of  the  pasture.  I  think  it  must  have  resulted  in  a 
Fig.  250 
from  pasture  soil  which  is  returned  to  it  is  apparent. 
PASTURE  EXPERIMENTS. — During  tlie  past  few 
years  some  experiments  in  top-dressing  pasture  land 
carried  out  by  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Sta¬ 
tion  afford  evidence  which  appears  to  me  to  he 
strongly  confirmatory  of  the  conclusion  that,  at  least 
in  the  pastures  where  these  experiments  have  been 
tried,  there  existed  a  great  deficiency  of  potash  in 
available  forms.  Tlie  soil  where  most  of  these  ex¬ 
periments  have  been  tried  is  a  silt  loam.  It  is  fair¬ 
ly  retentive  of  moisture  hut  not  overwet.  It  is  much 
letter  in  many  respects  than  tlie  average  pasture 
soil.  A  number  of  years  ago  selected  plots  in  this 
pasture  were  top-dressed  with  a  mixture  of  basic 
slag  meal  and  low  grade  sulphate  of  potash.  The 
conditions  in  the  pasture  at  the  time  this  experiment 
began,  in  so  far  as  it  is  essential  to  state  them,  may 
he  described  as  follows: 
PASTURE  WEEDS. — The  turf  was  comparatively 
weak  and  made  up  chiefly  of  fine  grasses  and  plants 
belonging  to  other  families.  Good  and  indeed  unusu- 
