The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-02-10
LINING THE SOIL.
rOp DRESSING Versus narrowing In
Before Seeding.

BefOre seeding.
Among many questions that have
ONE to the Rhode Island station,
which has for some time been carrying
N thorough investigations in regard to
inning the soil, the most frequently
sked is "Will the results not be just
s good by top dressing my grass land
With lime as by narrowing it into the
oil before seeding?' This question
ONES chiefly from those who have
ither postponed or not thought of using
ime until the seeding was accomplish
d. The response, as given in bulletin
No 40 of the station, is:
1t has been stated that the best plan
vas to thoroughly work the lime into
he soil, the success from it's use de-
,ending in a large measure upon the
horoughness with which this is accom-
ylished In order to test the question
n practical way three sections, each
80 by 80 feet, were laid cut. They were
Flowed Sept. 23, 1897 and MANFRED
md seeded two days later with timothy
it the rate of three pecks of seed per
,cre The following manures were APP
,lied to each plot just before seeding.
Der acre: $50 pounds nitrate of soda,
300 pounds double superphosphate, $50
pounds muriate of potash. Lime was
applied to sections Q and at the rate
of 1000 pounds per acre. In the case
of section 2 it was weighed out and put
aside until March 30, 1898, when it
was applied as top dressing. Upon
section 8, however, it was applied to
the surface after blowing and thorough
ly 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
tions With the advance of the spring of
1898, 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 a reasonable
growth considering the fact that no
further manures were applied in the
spring.
On July 30 the grass was cut. Upon
the section where the lime was 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. u little
timothy was discernible Upon the plot
which was not lined it was practically
to observe any timothy, only
seven plants having been found upon
the entire section. In this case the
weeds weighed g. | 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
to lime land before
seeding is one that should be adhered to
if the best results are to be obtained.
There is no time when plants are so
susceptible to injury by unfavorable
soil conditions as in the early period of
their growth, and consequently the
land should be put in a proper condi
ton at the start in order that as
many as possible of the young plants
may develop and good, compact sod
be formed