1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
267 
HOW TO IMPROVE OLD PASTURES. 
Our readers, evidently good farmers, are 
constantly sending us a proposition like the 
following: They have two or three poor 
pastures, and they want some good method 
of treatment, so as to get more and better 
feed out of them. These people generally 
have a good supply of all farm tools, or, at 
least, those generally used on an eastern farm 
and they are willing to apply manure or fer¬ 
tilizer in fair quantities if they can get re¬ 
turns in better pasturage. How can they 
go to work to the best advantage, so as to 
renovate this pasture at once? What grass 
seed should they take, and when and what 
is the best way to get these pastures 
started anew? Of course some of them are 
In such a condition that it would not pay 
to suggest a crop rotation. What can they 
do in a practical way to get better grass 
into their pastures and have it grow? 
It is like asking a man to prescribe for 
a sick horse that he has never seen, to 
prescribe a remedy for the redemption of 
a run-out pasture lot, that he knows noth¬ 
ing about. It may be too wet to improve 
without draining, or so dry and gravelly 
and generally sterile that it may better be 
set out with locust saplings and let it 
grow post timber. Most pastures lack 
phosphoric acid, particularly where they 
have been depastured by milch cows that 
were driven home and yarded nights. I 
have a field that was poor and too steep 
to plow without washing badly; it grew 
beautiful crops of goldenrod each year. I 
mowed it three years in succession when 
the weed crop was green, and have sown 
it each year with 300 pounds of ground 
Nova Scotia plaster per acre. A year ago 
last August I sowed it with 200 pounds 
superphosphate of lime per acre and sowed 
into the sod Blue grass, and Red-top 
seed, about four quarts to the acre; last 
season it was a very fair pasture lot, sea¬ 
son being favorable to the establishment 
of a turf of grass, instead of weeds. 
Manure, if a man wants to go to the ex¬ 
pense of its application, is certainly the 
quickest and surest method of improving 
run-out pastures, but I think every pas¬ 
ture is better for mowing it over with a 
mowing machine; it thickens the grass, 
and discourages weeds and vines, and 
gives the grass the front rank, also im¬ 
proves the quality of the grass. Any field 
a manure spreader can be driven over 
can be reclaimed and made a good pasture 
by an application of manure, without any 
seeding. The eastern country needs sta¬ 
ble manure, with perhaps some form of 
phosphoric acid, more than it needs re¬ 
seeding. Then mow the weeds when they 
are yet green, and you are certain to get 
a pasture if there is any rain. That is 
of course indispensable. j. e. watson. 
Connecticut. 
I am “up against” the same proposition, 
and have been for a long time. If the 
labor problem does not make for hind¬ 
rance, and the land can be plowed, I do 
not believe any other system is worth the 
trial, because these sods are always thin 
and poor; that is, organic matter has been 
burned out by close grazing and hot sun 
exposure. Humus must be put back 
again in some way, and I know of no way 
so rapid and sure as plowing and crop¬ 
ping with a crop plowed under if neces¬ 
sary. On the light sandy loams, cultiva¬ 
tion is not so important as available plant 
food. That soil will richly pay for com¬ 
mercial fertilizers, or of course stable 
manure will be better if at hand. It usu¬ 
ally happens, however, that where those 
conditions exist all of the manure at hand 
is needed, and can be made useful nearer 
the buildings, and so if anything is used 
it must be commercial fertilizer, usually 
a complete fertilizer will be most satis¬ 
factory ; nitrogen always, and phosphoric 
acid and potash may be. There is a great 
economic question involved in this problem 
that now seriously confronts eastern dairy 
farmers. During the eighties and nine¬ 
ties, when western development was rapid 
and grains cheap, land values were going 
down daily, farmers thought they could 
buy concentrated feed cheaper than to 
R'ow it, which resulted in land degener¬ 
acy over quite wide areas. These hill 
lands to-day have an increased value be¬ 
cause farmers are able to raise some of 
these crops cheaper than to buy them. 
In my own case, we are yearly putting 
under the plow from 12 to 15 acres of this 
kind of land, and have not as yet turned 
it to pasture again, feeling that it is a 
better business proposition to carry on a 
rotation of crops than to graze the land. 
In our northern section, either oats or 
potatoes give best returns. I have one 
piece that grew oats, barley and peas 
mixed for five successive years, using in 
that case nothing but acid rock. The 
growth was increased year by year, and 
at the conclusion the decayed roots and 
stubble had changed the soil to a black 
sand loam that produced a fine crop of 
clover, and continues to do good service 
in the rotation. I would prefer to sow 
grain upon the sod and follow with pota¬ 
toes rather than to plant potatoes upon 
the sod, although I don’t always do so. 
If the soil is clay then it is more a mat¬ 
ter of cultivation, getting air and vege¬ 
table material into the soil rather than 
commercial fertilizer. The plant food is 
usually present in these soils; the skill 
required is to get it out. Fairly good re¬ 
sults can be obtained with a harrow, 
manure or fertilizer and grass seed. 
H. E. COOK. 
The question of renovating pasture 
lands without cropping them is one that 
puzzles a good many farmers around 
here, but nothing to any great extent is 
being done. Where the part to be brought 
up is small and can be so used, keeping 
it simply for night pasture for a couple 
of years or so will help very much. A 
few farmers sow land plaster on the 
weak places with good results, also ashes, 
in some cases, bring in clover. Perhaps 
if I had a large amount of such land I 
would in the Spring scratch the surface 
well with a fine-tooth harrow and sow 
grass seed, Red-top, Blue grass, a little 
White clover, using about half bushel 
per acre; at the same time sow 100 
pounds of good fertilizer and 200 pounds 
ground bone per acre. Of course a coat¬ 
ing of manure, say 300 bushels per acre, 
would be all right, especially if put on 
with a manure spreader. Personally I 
pasture very little land that can reason¬ 
ably be cultivated. It is very hard to get 
a turf back that will stand pasturing after 
a pasture has once been plowed. 
Vermont. c. m. hazard. 
Perhaps a dressing of 250 pounds per 
acre nitrate of soda would materially 
help, but if the roots are not there to re¬ 
spond the only method I know of is to 
plow it up, plant to corn, till well. If 
the corn can be cut and drawn off early 
plow again and seed the same Fall. If 
the ground is too wet to plow, I do not 
know what to do with it. My wet ground 
has been pastured for many years, and 
continues to furnish good feed either wet 
or dry seasons. h. e. b. 
New Paltz, N. Y. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
It. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee, page 18. 
Lei Us Send You 
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about good wheels and good wagons that will save 
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tit 
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More Money 
Out of Milk- 
Champion Milk Cooler-Aerator.ro- 
moves animal heat, odors taint, 
Stops bacteria growth. Milk keeps 
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on the market, thuu.ands 
Sent on trial. Catalog free. 
MILK COOLERCO. 
11 th St., Cortland, N. Y. 
The Separator That 
Pays For It self. 
Occasionally the intending buyer of a cream separator who 
has but a small amount of ready cash to invest is tempted to 
put his money into one of the so-called “cheap” machines which 
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DE LAVAL SEPARATOR 
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General Offices: 
74 CORTLANDT STREET, 
NEW YORK. 
Randolph & Canal Sts., 
CHICAGO. 
1213 Filbert Street, 
PHILADELPHIA. 
9 & 11 Drumm St., 
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109-113 YOUVILLE SQ. 
MONTREAL. 
75 & 77 YORK STREET. 
TORONTO. 
14-16 PRINCESS STREET, 
WINNIPEG. ’ 
THE PAPEG 
PNEUMATIC 
Ensilage Gutter 
will prepare you a lietter silage and fill your 
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cutter made. 
It is the most convenient and the easiest to 
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If you need an ensilage cutter you need a 
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know about the silage subject. You can’t think 
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All about the crops and how to cut and fill. How 
to feed, with the most complete feeding tables 
ever published. About 40 illustrations help to 
make things plain. Used as a text book -In 
many Agricultural Colleges. We have always 
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time, to any reader who will ask for it, 
and name this paper, we will send a 
copylreo. Write at once. 
SILVER MFG. CO., 
Salem, Ohio. 
The International 
Is the only Silo with an Automatic, Self Adjusting 
Hoop. Also has Continuous, Open Front. Air Tight, 
and Easy Operating Door, and a Permanent Ladder, 
always in Position. Made of Selected 2-inch Tank 
Pine. Matched, ready to set up THE INTER¬ 
NATIONAL SILO CO., Itox 91, Jefferson. O. 
21 POUNDS MORE 
BUTTER PER WEEK 
Barnesville, Ohio, June 20,1905: We 
were milking ten cows May 19. That 
day we took a Tubular separator for 
trial. We used It one week and 
got 86 pounds of butter that 
week. The week before we used 
It, we got only 65pounds. The week 
after the agent took it away we got 
only 64 pounds. We felt we ought 
to have It. Later we arranged to buy 
it. We recommend the Tubular to 
anyone interested in cows. It surely 
will pay any one to buy a Tubular. 
(Signed) Lona and C. W. Actom. 
Write for catalog Y-153. It explains 
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THE SHARPLES SEPARATOR CO. 
WEST CHESTER, PA. 
TORONTO, CAN. CHICAGO, ILL. 
SWISS 
Cow Bells 
Patented Design. Made from 
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We sell exclusively to the job¬ 
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Send for circular of Cow, Sheep and Turkey Bells, 
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BEV1N BROS. MFQ. CO., EAST HAMPTON, CONN. 
Economy Silo 
Doors can be easily removed and re¬ 
placed by a boy—no hammer or wrench 
required—and fit so snugly that they 
make the silo absolutely air-tight—no 
spoilt ensilage even at the doorways. 
Hoops are continuous and form a per¬ 
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easily erected by any one. Fully guaran¬ 
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I, with experience of users. 
Economy Silo & Tank Co., Frederick, Md, 
THE FAMOUS 
GREEN MOUNTAIN SILO 
Guaranteed all right in every particular. Couldn’t be better if it cost 
twice as much. The home-made Silo is almost invariably disappointing, 
if not a downright failure. 
Brunswick, N. Y., August 13 th. 
In answer to your favor of the nth, I would say my Silo was built Septem¬ 
ber, 1899 , a man from Cornell, who had worked on two at the Experiment 
Station. Gave him $ 2.00 per day and his fare one way, $ 30 . 00 ; lumber, 
$ 67 . 00 ; hardware, $ 15 . 00 . Enough silage spoiled from faulty construction 
to have paid 20 per cent on the cost of a first-class one, ami it blew down 
August 10th, but rather than not have any Silo, I would build one every 
year. But now 1 have ordered one of yours and hope to have it standing 
10 years from now, O. K.— Parker Bristol. 
Agents wanted in unoccupied territory. VVrite for free Silo Booklet H. 
STO O DARO MFG. CO., Rutland, Vt. 
