Connecticut western news., 1898-03-31
COMMERCIAL. MANURES.
How and When to Apply Them on Grs.s
 Lands.

How and When to Apply Them on Grass
 Lands.
 Soils differ widely in their compost tion, and hence their needs are varied. Pasture lands and hay meadows require different treatment. Land deficient in lime or rich in lime, clay soil and sandy soil, upland and lowland, must each be fertilized according to its needs The general theory in fertilizing is this, that certain amounts of the essential elements, nitrogen, potash and phos- phorous, must be supplied at the time when needed and in an available or soluble form. Nitrogen is the most i'm. portant and at the same time the most and hence should be applied only at such times as 1t is needed and in quan- titles no greater than can be used by the crop.
 Except in the case of moist soils rich in lime, the use of too much nitrogen at one time is an extravaganza, for the surplus rapidly teaches out or decom- of ammonia. There is considerable amount of nitrogen in barnyard manure, and where this is available it is the best and often the cheapest source of nitrogen and humus. Other sources of nitrogen are ground bone and bonemeal, fish scrap, tankage, dried blood, bran, cot tonseed meal and peanut meal, and that supplied by various clovers, vetches and beans grown as green manurial and soiling crops. Nitrate of soda is often recommended for grass lands, but it is expensive and so readily soluble that a single hard rain may wash out in a few hours all that has been applied to the land. Bad results follow its use when too large an amount is applied. It has been found by experiment that an appli- cation of nitrate of soda does not have much influence on the total amount of nitrogen in a crop of clover or peas, so that in the case of either of these crops a heavy application of nitrogenous fer tilizer is undesirable.
 In growing hay for market bonemeal and tankage certainly increase the yield very materially. Ground bone is imme- diately valuable, not. as has been gen. erally believed, for its content of phos- phoric acid, but for its nitrogen, which is in such form that it becomes gradual ly available during several months and so acts as continuous stimulant to the growing crop. Cottonseed meal has much the same effect, and where it can be obtained at reasonable rates is good substitute for bone. Tankage, fish scrap and dried blood are all rich in nitrogen and nearly approach bone and cotton seed meal in chemical composition and effect on the growing crops.
 Phosphorio acid may be best applied as superphosphate or acid phosphate. Fertilizers containing potash are wood salt and ground tobacco stalks. The best of these for grass lands are wood ashes, kainit and tobacco stalks. In 8 clay soil deficient in humus the surplus of either potash or phosphoric acid does not leach out in the same way us sur plus of nitrogen would, but enters into combination with the clay and is held for the benefit of future crops. Upon the addition of organic matter, lime or salt to the soil this surplus of potash and phosphorus is gradually broken down and is again transformed into soluble plant food.
 In soils that consist of almost pure sand, with very little clay or organic matter intermixed, there must be fre- quent applications of small amounts of fertilizers, never putting on the field more than can be utilized by the crop before it has time to be washed and leaohed out of the soil. On such lands when it can be cheaply obtained crushed cotton seed from which the oil has not been extracted is better than cottonseed meal, the oil acting to retard the rot ting of the seed and thus extending the period of usefulness of its nitrogen. The foregoing is from the pen of Jared c. Smith, assistant agrostologist, United States department of agriculture
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