The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-03-30
Grasses and Forage Plants.
BY PROFESSOR W. ]. BEAL.
From the forthcoming report of the
Michigan Board Of Agriculture.

The following extracts are taken
from lecture prepared for the far
mers' institutes last Winter, but
owing to illness the author was un-
able to present it.
Professor Voelcker (Royal Jour-
nal Of Agriculture, 1868, p. 643)
says: "Ihe effects produced by
the application of bone-dust to pas
lures are very variable. On the
porous land of Cheshire and similar
soils on the rcd-sandstone forma-
ton, the result is very striking.
On land which is wet and cold and
rests on poor, undrained subsoil,
bones often produce no effcct. He
recommends, in all cases, trial on
a small scale.
Experiments to be of much value
must be kept up for long time.
AS Prof. Voelcker says, "Field ex-
perimcnts, in order to be practical
ly useful, should always be tried
for a succession of years under as
great variety of conditions as re-
CARDS soil, time, and mode of APP
plication, and crops, as possible. "
This should be continued from year
to year according to the same plan
as fixed upon in the previous years.
Some of the best experiments made,
at great expense, in England, were
tried for 90 successive years before
arriving at satisfactory conclusions.
Old pastures in England often get
a dressing of $50 lbs. of nitrate of
soda, or 800 lbs. of guano, 200 lbs.
of supcrphosphate, sown broadcast
on each acre. Such dressings with
barnyard manure are often applied
until the land produces well.
In prize essay by Clement Ca
die he claims much experience in
the manuring of grass nds,-a
most difficult subject. lie has seen
bones do no good whatever, and he
has seen them used with immense
advantage. He has seen guano
used and produce a splendid crop
the same year, and next year the
crop was worse than before the
guano was applied. 1t seems i'm
possible to tell with certainty Just
I which fertilizers will do the best on
any soil till they have been tried.
Mr.. Cables rule is this: "In pro-
portion as the land is inclined to
grow benty or stocky grass, inclin-
ing to seed, he applies ammoniacal
mnnurcs. If the land produces
thick, short, leafy heritage, the phos-
phatic manurcs must be applied
After 20 years he concludes that in
England money judiciously used in
improving grass land pays more
certain return than where cxpcnd-
cd in the growth of wheat.
S. ii. Thompson, prominent
farmer of York, also concludes that
money used in improving grass land
gives better return than on arabic
land. lie says that ''fir,ancss and
quality cannot be secured with large
bulk. For quantity of hay or pas
turo use guano, nitrate of soda, SCOT,
or other ammoniacal manure; for
quantity use lime or bones; for me-
dium quantity, and quality, use both
classes of fertilizers" Coarsely
pulverized bones and barnyard ma
nurc produce lasting results, often
very marked for 20 years. Good
barnyard manure is the standard,
and never fails to improve grass
lands. In the report for 1875, Mr..
Lawcs, the most celebrated English
cxpcrimentcr, says: 1.-The appli-
cation of bones to grass land is not
recommended for general adoption.
They appear to be chiefly adapted
to the exhausted pastures of certain
localities. The same is true with
lime. Every man must experiment"
lie adds: 81 am disposed to think
that dressing of dung once in s
years, and 200 lbs. of nitrate of So
da the other 4 years, is about as
good an application as can be used"
/ should recommend mixture OF
fertilizers found to be good, or Il
rotation of their use.
The English well know the great
importance of excellent pasture to
fattcn cattle. They feed such cat
tic, while grazing, oil-cakc, meal,
ETC., for two-fold object, namely,
to help fatten the cattle, and to help
enrich the soil, and so make the pas
turc better. This is sound doctrine,
which we all understand. There
are certain well-known truths in
regard to mnnurcs that arc almost
axioms; as, "Thc more abundant the
food supplied to beasts, the better
the quality and the larger the guam
tity of manure which is produccd;'
"Bcasts fed on good, nutritious food,
give much more valuable manure
than when fed upon indifferent
kinds of food;" "the manure OF
young animals is less valuable than
that from mature animals, as the
young require both organic and in
organic food in larger quantities
than lull-grown beasts, which have
only to keep up their weight and
condition by tho food they eat"
and that the best animal manurcs
for general purposes consist of both
solid and liquid excrements com
bincd.
We hear rumors of an exceed