vat T YYYTTT Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co., 
’ i'AAAin. 333 w 30th gt New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 23, 1924. 
Entered a. 
Office at 
Matter, June 2. 1879, at the Post 
. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
NO. 4809 
Permanent Meadows With Chemicals 
(’an I keep a meadow growing by sowing grass seed i 
and about 150 lbs. fertilizer to the acre every year?! 
If so will you state best time of year to apply same? 
S. J. 
HANGING CONDITIONS.—Many farmers 
are asking this question. Many of them 
are dairymen who are selling off their 
cows, convinced that they cannot make 
any labor profit out of milk at present 
prices. They will, therefore, seed their 
meadows carefully and try to keep them going year 
after year by top-dressing with good fertilizer. This 
saves labor, and the net income from hay will be 
nearly as large as that from feeding the hay to 
cows. Of course this is all against the usual theory 
of conducting a farm, but all sorts of theories are 
being upset these days. We know of one case where 
i farmer-dairyman near a large town sold his cows 
p.nd seeded most of his fields to clqver and mixed 
grasses. The hay is cut and sold to another dairy¬ 
man who has increased his herd and it is true that 
the haymaker makes a greater net profit than he 
did before he stopped feeding the hay. This one 
incident does not prove the rule for all, but there 
are some cases where what we may call a long¬ 
term meadow will pay well. 
DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY.—Answering the 
above question directly we should say no; it will 
rot be possible to keep up such a meadow year 
after year by using 150 lbs. of fertilizer yearly. A 
ton of hay from clover and mixed grasses will take 
away from the soil more than 30 lbs. of nitrogen, 8 
lbs. of phosphoric acid and 40 lbs. of potash. The 
average fertilizer such as most farmers use would 
add about 6 lbs. of nitrogen, 12 lbs. of phosphoric 
acid and 7 or 8 lbs. of potash. For real profit there 
should be a yield of at least one and one half tons 
of hay per acre. Thus the small amount of fertilizer 
y<5u suggest would not begin to supply what the hay 
lemoves. It is true that many farmers do not be¬ 
gin to make up to the soil what they take out of it, 
but if you want to keep a meadow in good condi¬ 
tion, year after year, you must feed heavily—giving 
a surplus of plant food—that is more than you 
take out. 
THE PERMANENT MEADOW.—There are many 
cases on record where meadows have been kept in 
high production 10 or 12 years. This was done by 
starting them right with plenty of seed and a good 
stand. That means fitting the soil right, using at 
least one ton of lime to the acre, getting the soil as 
level as possible, and using an abundance of seed. 
If you want a permanent meadow you must start 
With clean soil—killing out all the weeds and foul 
growth. The longer you can work the soil the bet¬ 
ter. You will always have a fine stand of grass if 
you seed after a crop of corn or garden truck. 
Such land is always well manured, and the thorough 
culture which must be given in order to make a 
full crop of onions gives just the fitting needed for 
grass seeding. We like to use a combination of 
mmk 
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mm 
W0. 
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P. & A. Photo. 
It’s Hot in Haying Time. Let's Have lee Cream for Dinner. 
