20 
ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
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Several experimental plats were sown and cultivated, the following being th 
results : Plat No. 1 contained eighty acres; soil a peaty formation of a depth of abou 
six feet, resting on a substratum of gravel and water; drained by open ditche c 
Twenty-five acres had been plowed and cropped with buckwheat; cultivation bv sin 
face culture ; cost of labor $4.50 for the unplowed land, and $3.50 for the plowed lan 
per acre. The vegetation growing on the land before the work of cultivation com 
menced was wire grass, slough grass, sedge and willows. Grass seed sown per acre 
timothv, ten pounds; red top, seven pounds; time of seeding, early in Septembe 
1875 The present condition of this land is as follows : Surface of the soil, more firr 
and dry; good stand of red-top on the unplowed land and a weak stand of red-top o 
the plowed land. In seeking for an explanation for the failure of the grasses on th 
plowed land, an analysis of the soil of a peat formation in its natural condition is o 
service: 
Water of absorbtion. 
Humus (decomposed veg-. matter). 
Undecomposed veg. matter...75 c 
Aluminia. . '70 
Silicious sand.” ’ .. £ • 
These are the basis of vegetable food, and as.it becomes exhausted must be sup 
plied by top-dressing. The surface of the soi , when analvzed, is found to consist o 
silica and oxygen in nearly equal proportions. It forms the skeleton of all the soil 
rendering it permeable to moisture, heat and light, the three elements especially essen 
tial to vegetable life. Next to sand, aluminia is most generally present in soils—th* 
oxide of the metal aluminum, two parts of aluminum and three parts of oxygen com 
bining in the same way that sand consists of silica and oxygen, or as rust consists o 
iron and oxygen. These two essential elements required' in soils for the growth o 
valuable vegetation are found located in the surface strata of this class of soils. Ih 
the process of plowing, these elements are covered with from four to six inches o 
undecomposed vegetable matter which is not natural food adapted to the growth o 
the cultivated grasses, as was demonstrated by several experiments I made on thi: 
kind of soil. The failure of the grass on the twenty-five acres of plowed land coin 
cides with the experience of many farmers who have had a like experience with thi: 
class of soil—that is, using the plow in the process of cultivating the land for the pur¬ 
pose of seeding it to the same grasses. We know by experience that the more porous 
we make the soil with the plow it increases its susceptibility for receiving heat whicl 
causes a rapid increase in the evaporation of moisture which, it hardly need be said 
is one of the essential elements in the support of vegetable life, especially so to grow¬ 
ing grasses in this class of soils. 
Plat No. 2 consisted of fifty five acres used as a pasture lot for about thirty years 
In some portions of the lot the surface was very rough, or what is*known as boggj 
land, caused by poaching of the cattle during periods of wet weather when the eartt 
whs soft and spongy. The soil consisted of black loam mixed with sand about eighteer 
inches deep, resting upon a clay sub-soil, well drained with tile and open ditches 
Cultivation was by surface culture, at a cost of $5 per acre ; quantity of seed ant 
varieties sown per acre was, timothy, ten pounds; red top, seven pounds; Kentucky 
blue grass, five pounds; sown in September. The following spring three pounds oi 
red clover were sown. This lot had been used as a meadow, and the first two years 
after it had been renovated it was likewise used as a meadow. The week previous tc 
its being mowed I made an examination of the lot and selected specimens of the fol¬ 
lowing varieties of grasses growing thereon: Timothy ( Plileum pratense ); red top. 
[Agrostis vulgaris) \ white top, (A. alba)\ Kentucky blue grass, ( Poa pratensis)', fowl 
meadow grass, (P. serotina ); rough meadow grass, (P. trivial)'s ); spear grass, (P. 
annua) \ drop seed grass, ( Glyceria nervata): tall Buffalo grass, ( Bouteloua hirsuta) ; 
rye grass, ( Lolium perenne ); barley grass, ( Hnrdeum jubatum) ; blue grass, ( Foa com - 
pressa) ; and red and white clovers. The yield per acre the first season after cultiva¬ 
tion and reseeding was-tons of the finest quality. The next season the product 
was two-and-a-half tons per acre. Since cutting that crop the lot has been used for 
stock-grazing, suppljdng good nutritious food through the entire grazing season at the 
rate or three-fourths of an acre per head of stock. 
Wq have previously given the value and analvsis of the above named grasses as 
far as we have them at our command. In this selection of specimens we find all of 
these different varieties growing in one field of fiftv-five acres located near White- 
water, Wis. 
The attention of those who advocate through the agricultural press and other¬ 
wise, the doctrine of plowing up the old pasture lots and res-eding them with timothv 
and clover, is respectfully invited to the difference in the above combination of seed's 
and the common practice of sowing four quarts each of clover and timothj 7 per acre 
vhich produce about 160 plants per square foot of surface and very weak and feeble 
at that. In the above plat we have nature's combination adapted to the soil and 
climate, with the addition of three varieties, that is, Kentucky blue grass, (which is 
