Middletown transcript., 1898-10-01
LINING LINING THE SOIL.
Interesting Facts In Regard to Growing
Different Grasses.

Different Grasses.
A large number of experiments con-
Quoted at the Rhode Island station and
upon farms in various portions of the
state are reported as giving every indi-
cation that large tracts of land in this
state cannot be made to grow clover
successfully by the use of ordinary COM
mercial fertilizers until Stacked lime,
wood ashes or some form of lime other
than land plaster (gypsum) has been
applied. Even large quantities of stable
manure, unless applied annually, do
not on certain soils insure an even
stand and a large crop Of clover, though
such applications do increase it to a
marked extent.
As learned from bulletin No. AZ, by
Professor Fl. J. Wheeler, these expert
ments in different parts of the state have
shown in striking degree that what is
true of clover is also true Of timothy.
Farmers who have been seeding their
land with timothy, redtop and clover
and who after one or two years find it
almost wholly occupied by Rhode Island
bent and redtop have usually attributed
this fact to the quality of the timothy
seed which was employed or to some
other unknown condition. It seems that
timothy cannot be grown successfully
on land which is very sour and which
in consequence lacks carbonate Of lime.
Where lime has been applied, timo-
thy has been found to hold its own for
much longer intervals Of time, and it
seems under such conditions to be capa-
BILE of overcoming the redtop and
Rhode Island bent in the natural strug-
gle for existence. This explains salts
factorily why SO many Rhode Island
soils are SO free from timothy and many
other grasses and are so we'll stocked
with Rhode Island bent, since the lat
ter grass, like redtop, will succeed on
an acid soil and is not particularly ben
Gifted by lining. Rhode Island would
probably never have acquired its repu-
tation as producer of Rhode Island
bent seed had the soil of the state been
well supplied with lime.
English farmers as q rule and many
also in Rhode Island and elsewhere in
the United States consider redtop in
ferior to timothy. The same is also true
of Rhode Island bent, when the hay is
designed for the feeding of horses.
Doubtless there are some men who are
such ardent advocates of Rhode Island
bent that they would even claim it to
be superior as horse hay to timothy,
but the city markets demand the latter.
Experiments have also shown that
Kentucky blue grass cannot be made to
succeed on very acid soils until lining
is resorted to. This explains the failure
which many farmers have met with
who have attempted unsucoessfully to
grow this grass.
One of the most striking object les
sons which is to be seen is the wonder
full effect Of lime upon the growth of
and also the superiority of
nitrate Of soda as compared with sui
phate of ammonia as source of nitrogen
for this crop.
The idea should not be gathered from
what has been said that all plants are
benefited by lime. Watermelons and |
show exactly opposite re- |
quirements in this particular, musk
melons being helped by it and water
melons injured. About 150 varieties of |
plants have already been tested at the |
station to ascertain their requirements
in this particular.