The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-09-17
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PASTURES AND MEADOWS.
valuable Suggestions ny the Dire
Tor of lnwnI Gstio

suggestions by the Dfrec-
tor of Cornell station.
"A pasture or a meadow should be
MADE as we make a good road-once
Tor all, and never but once. After that
1t wants watching and mending and
there is no difficulty in keeping it in
good condition if we only work in SYM
pathy with Natures methods and do
not attempt to go contrary to her law.
lie who plants contrary to the law of
nature pays the penalty. To get q
good pasture or meadow it is usually
u good rule to summer fallow the land.
Ihere are vast stores Of plnht food in
an soil. A Leading object of all who
farm Should be to set free that plant
o and utilize it. The office of the
farmer is to take out of the soil and
put in circulation the plant food and
keep it rotating from soil to animal
anG from animal to soil.
Do not sow mixed grasses. There
are cert ain kinds of grasses that will
stand our climate. The grass that
stands at the head of American farm
grasses is what might be called a uni
yersal grass-timOthy. The places
where it does not do well are an ex-
ception. Then comes the tall meadow
grass that we have neglect
ed very much. Then we have the red
topf FOR low lands; and in some places
we nave the blue grass, although in
other places the blue grass is not good.
sometimes 1t grows two or three inches
nigh in the spring of the year and then
goes ION Il strikc' for the remainder of
The season. On our moist meadow
lands, where 1t Is naturally adapted, it
makes very nice pasture. The com-
mon Kentucky l4ue grass, the Poa pra-
tense. is desirable. The little narrow
libbed rIant, Poe compressa, is wholly
useless. Determine how much of each
you want and mix them as you want
them, according to the kind of land
you have and according to the man
dates of experience.
Grasses are at all times hungry for
nitrogen. They want it and they want
1t INCREASINGLY. 1t is their life blood
II yet they cannot produce it. AS
soon as they eXhause what little nitro
gen IS free in the soil then they are in
a condition of starvation for nitrogen.
You should watch thai condition and
endeavor to farm according to the laws
which nature has laid down on that
subject. There are a great many plants
that are nitrogen producers. They do
not thank you for nitrogen; Just give
them a little to start with AID they go
on themselves and take nitrogen from
the atmosphere. Four-lifths Of the air
Is nitrogen and an organism that an
not get 1t through the roots takes it
from the air. 1t is foolish to attempt
to raise grasses without nitrogen pro-
duccrS, c%loyerS, the commCn red clover
and the alsike. For pastures the COM
mon red clover is better than the alsike
because it is deep rooted. There are
many reasons why a deep-rooted plant
is desirable. The air should be allow
ed to circulate down to the roots so
that nitrogen can be made available.
1t cannot be made available unless it
can be taken down. On pastures we
want from three to five times as many
plants per square foot or per acre as
on a permanent meadow. Most of the
permanent meadows have too many
plants; most of the pastures too few.
grasses should cover the whole
ground.-DirectOr |. 7. Roberts, Cornell
IN. w. Experiment Station.