The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-06-26

only time that the nitrate should be
used, and nitrogen is one of the most
important elements for grass, as it
encourages the leaf growth rather
than the seeding But we want more
than this. We need the phosphoric
acid to tend to the perfection of the
plant, and to make the potash we
may use more active and available
for the plant, for it has been found
that potash does not have it's best
effect in the deficiency of phosphOric
acid. Hence we want to make fer
tilizer that will be complete, and that
will as nearly as possible substitute
the lack of the stable manure.
To this end we should mix for a
ton of fertilizer to be used as a top
dressing for grass meadows (and the
permanent pasture will also be great
ly improved by the same dressing)
say: Fine raw bone meal 1 200 pounds,
nitrate of soda 400 pounds, and muri-
ate of potash 400 pounds. Use of this
mixture not less than 800 pounds per
acre. 1t is best to apply it while the
grass is dry and d little while before
rain. We used a similar mixture on
our College lawns this spring, and
result has been exceedingly fine, and
we propose to repeat the dose of the
nitrate to keep up the growth.
OF course there is a greater reason
for tOp-dressing meadows than there
is for top-dressing lawns, for nothing
is removed from the lawn, the cut
grass being allowed to lie and form
mulch for the roots, while the crop
is taken away from the moving field
and if it's productiveness is to be kept
up and increased, there is a real need
for feeding the grass. If the grass
is to be plowed next year for corn or
potatoes, it is all the more important
that the dressing should be given
now, for you will not only get
heavier second crop of hay but you
will be accommodating far more Of
vegetable matter and organic nitro
gen for the corn and potato crop and
then, too, as the potato and corn
crops both make large quantities of
starch, and potash is an essential
element in the formation of starch
it is important that it should not be
deficient.
But frequently the addition of pot
ash in a caustic shape to the imme-
diate crop may retard the germina-
tion of the seed, while if it is applied
some time in advance it becomes as
simulated to the soil and is in a better
condition than if applied to the crop
direct. You need not be afraid that
the phosphoric acid and the potash
will get away from you any more
than the crop will use, for the soil
will hold on to them till the plants
call for them, while the nitrogen, in
the form of nitrate, must be used at
once by the plants or it will leach
away from you Hence, while the
corn crop needs nitrogen ant potash
more than anything else, it is well to
have the nitrogen in the shape of or
ganic matter that will nitrify during
the long hot season when the corn is
growing.
We have never found it profitable
to apply complete fertilizer to the
corn crop. The nitrogen bought in
a fertilizer costs too much for the
corn. Hence we have always tried
to accumulate organic matter for the
corn and to simply aid it in its work
with the addition of the mineral ele-
ments needed. And there is no bet
ter way to do this than through the
grass sod you are going to plow for
corn next season, for in this way you
may get the cost, or near the cost, OF
the fertilizer from the hay crop and
the corn will be helped free of ex-
pense. w. F. MASSEY.
Raleigh, N. @.
When I read the story of forty