The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1896-08-07
PASTURES AND MEADOWS.
valuable SugGestions By tlae Direc.
tor OF Cornell Station.


A pasture or meadow should be
made as we make 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 IL we only work in SYM
pathy with Natures methods and do
not attempt to 60 contrary to her law.
he who plants contrary to the law Of
nature pays the penalty. To get q
good pasture or meadow It Is usually
good rule to summer fallow the land.
Inere are vast stores Of plant food in
all soil. A leading object Of all who
farm should be to set free that plant
food and utilize 1t. The Office Of the
farmersds to take out Of the soil and
put In circulation the plant food and
keep it rotating from soil to animal
ana from animal to soil.
Do not sow mixed grasses. There
are certain kinds of grasses that will
smnd our climate. The. grass that
stands at the head of American farm
grasses Is what might be called uni
versal grass-timothy. The places
where 1t does not do we'll are an ex-
ception. Then comes the tall meadow
fescue-a grass that we have neglect
ed very much. Then we have the red
top for low lands; and in some places
we have the blue grass, although in
0ther places the blue grass is not good.
sometimes 1t grows two or three inches
high In the spring Of the year and then
goes ION q strike" for the remainder Of
che season. On our moist meadow
lands, where it is naturally adapted, it
makes very nice pasture. The COM
mon Kentucky blue grass, the Poa pra-
tense, Is desirable. The little narrow
ribbed plant, Poa 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
It increasingly. It is their life blood
and yet they cannot produce it. As
soon as they exhause what little nitro
gen is free in the soil then they are in
condition Of starvation for nitrogen.
You should watch that condition and
endeavor to farm according to the laws
which nature has laid down on that
subject. There are great many plants
that are nitrogen producers. They do
not thank you for nitrogen; Just give
them little to start with and they 60
on themselves and take nitrogen from
the atmosphere. Four-fifths of the air
Is nitrogen and an organism that can
not get it through the roots takes it
from the air. 1t is foolish to attempt
70 raise grasses without nitrogen pro-
oucers, clovers, the common 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 deep rooted plant
Is desirable. The air should be allow
ed to circulate down to the roots so
chat 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 permanent meadow. Most of the
permanent meadows have too MANY
plants; most Of the pastures too few.
Pasture grasses should cover the whole
ground.-Director I. p. Roberts, Cornell
IN. ~ Experiment Station.