The Newtown bee., 1894-01-05

When, some 30 years ago, l began to plant little on my fathers old farm, found grass seed and especially clover seed would not catch on what was naturally the best grass land on the farm until I had copiously supplied it with barnyard manure.
 The land was somewhat difficult of access, and my father had learned that the expense of purchasing and applying Peruvian guano, in sufficient quantities to produce a crop of grass when applied to land that had been in grass for years. or of corn or oats. was less than the cost of hauling manure from the barnyard.
 He had been practicing on hat theory. using his barnyard manure on the sandy river land, with gravelly subsoil, where he could blow in all the manure made on the farm, year after year, on the same field without injury to it, and putting guano on the hill land for some years, when I made my discovery.
 At first thought the grass seed was poor or the weather unsuitable, but when after repeated trials the truth dawned upon me, made haste to get something beside guano on that land.
 But ever since that time, the tempta- tion that beset my father has beset me. Time and again have tried with differ ent fertilizers, some of which would give me excellent crops of corn, oats, or rye, but none of which could I seed to grass with. e-.>
 My brother farmers, many or them, professors at experiment stations and fertilizer dealers will bear witness to the persistency with which l have sought a commercial fertilizer that would grow clover.
 Most of you are aware that for several years past the Experiment. Station has been growing corn on an acre of my farm year after year upon the same plot with the same fertilizing elements or mixtures of the same.
 It occurred to me when the Station gave that acre up that those 10 plots offered chance for little experiment. ing on my own hook. I had doubts as to whether the reason that grass seed would not take was only because the fer. tilzers lacked the proper elements, or whether in addition they stimulated the soil to greater productionso of other crops and thus lessened it's grass producing power.
 These plots ranged all the way from plot that had received no fertilizer, and the latter especially producing every year good paying crops of corn.
 Some of the plots certainly had not been stimulated to their hurt, and if it proved lighter task to get grass to grow on these than on those that had grown good corn it would point toward an answer to my. query. To see the con- dition at the start I sowed the piece with oats and grass using a little horn shavings to get oats enough to pay for the labor.
 The oats grew about in proportion as the land was fertilized. Where the corn was best there was nice crop of oats, and they tapered off to some that neeueu UdIDcI lus6cdu Ol HdH WiCu cradle to harvest them.
 I was away when they were cut, re- turning home about September first, and among the first things did was to take a look at that oat stubble.
 I struck in on the end where the single fertilizers were used, found little or no young grass or clover until came to the potash where there seemed just little more clover; found little more in some of the plots where two fertilizers were applied, and when looked for the