St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-01-25
LINING THE SOIL.
Ton Dressing Versus Harrowi"s 1"
Before Seeding.

AMONG Ilduy H"So'@N
come to the Rhode Island statloh'
which has for some time been carrying
on thorough Investigations in regard 10
lining the soil, the most frequently
asked is "Will the results not be just
as good by top dressing my grass lana
with lime as by narrowing it into the
soil before seeding?" This question
comes chiefly from those who have
either postponed or not thought OF using
lime until the seeding was accomplish
ed The response, as given in bulletin
No. 40 of the station, is:
1t has been stated that the best plan
was to thoroughly work the lime into
the soil, the success from its use de-
nending in q large measure upon the
tboroughness with which this is accom-
plished. In order to test the question
in O. practical way three sections, each
80 by 80 feet, were laid out They were
plowed Sept. %, 1897, and MANFRED
and seeded two days later with timothy
at the rate of three pecks OF seed per
acre. The following manures were ap
plied to each plot just before seeding
per acre: 150 pounds nitrate OF soda,
200 pounds double superphosphate, 100
pounds muriate of potash. Lime was
applied to sections 3 and 3 at the rate
of 1000 pounds per acre. In the case
of section 2 it was weighed out and put
aside until March 20, 1898, when 1T
was applied as a top dressing. Upon
section 3, however, it was applied to
the surface after blowing and thorough
" worked into the soil. Section was
not treated with lime in any manner
During the autumn of 1897 the grass
upon the section where the lime was
worked into the soil appeared green and
vigorous, while little or no grass was to
be seen upon either of the other sec
tions. With the advance of the spring Of
1893, it was observable that little
grass was present upon the section
which was top dressed with lime, while
that where no lime was applied seemed
almost free from grass Where the lime
was worked into the soil the preceding
autumn, however, the young grass look
ed vigorous and made reasonable
growth considering the fact that no
further manures were applied in the
spring.
On July 80 the grass was cut. Upon
the section where the lime vas worked
into the soil before seeding, Is pounds
of undried material were obtained.
This consisted almost entirely of tim
othy and contained very few weeds.
Where the lime was applied as top
dressing in the spring, II pounds of ma
terial were cut, consisting almost Who'll
ly of weeds, in which, however, little
timothy was discernible. Upon the plot
which was not lined it was practically
impossible to observe any timothy, only
seven plants having been found upon
the entire section. In this case the
weeds weighed B. pounds, so that COM
pairing this with the top dressed section
it was evident that where lime had been
applied to the surface the growth of
weeds was much increased. Where lime
was worked into the soil at the proper
time the grass obtained such foothold
that it pushed ahead of the weeds in
the early spring and thus practically
kept them from appearing, even though
lime under other circumstances is bene-
fetal to them.
From these results it seems that the
recommendation to lime land before
seeding is one that should be adhered tc
if the best results are to be obtained.
There is no time when plants are sc
susceptible to injury by unfavorablt
soil conditions as in the early period OF
their growth, and consequently the
land should be put in proper condi
ton at the start in order that as
many as possible of the young plants
may develop and good, compact SOC
be formed.