Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1911-09-08
GRASS CULTURE

GRASS CULTURE
This year, when farmers all over
the State are mourning the short
age of the hay crop caused by the
unprecedented drought, the value
OF hay is more keenly appreciated
than ever before.
The culture of grass is one of the
most important subjects in Virginia
agriculture, because grass is the
foundation of successful live stock
farming, and the keeping of live
stock is the most economical means
of maintaining the fertility of The
farm A timely bulletin just issucd
by the Virginia Experiment Stati"n
giving the following figures which
show how much more rapidly farms
become depleted of fertility wi
the crops are sold than when TIE
crobs are fed to stock, and the pro-
duct of the stock is sold.
80 bu. of corn, with stover, re-
move $3.50 worth of plant-food.
1000 lbs. of leaf tobacco remove
$40 worth of plant-food.
A 1000 lb. steer removes $3.50
worth of plant-food.
500 lbs. of butter take only Is
cents worth of plant-food from
the farm.
The cultivation of hay, has rot
received the. attention in NrGi' II
that it deserves. In 1910 t"r.''
were ATS 900 acres of hay in Virgin
ia, producing 565, 900 tons, vr h
IS, 1872 900 at the farm. This arrv-
age and the average yield per acre,
should both be doubled in the next
ten years.
1t is a common notion that the
eastern part of Virginia is not a
"grass county" This is q mis-
take. In nearly all of Virginia east
of the Blue Ridge, and including
most of Tidewater, very satisfactory
yields of grass can be secured. The
bulletin records a yield of 5.06 tons
per acre on the experiment plats at
Appomattox, in 1907; and yields of
from | 1-2 to tons were easily Sc
cured other years there andi other
parts of Piedmont Virginia. The
bulletin says: Western hay is be-
ing shipped into many counties OF
Virginia which arc we'll adapted for
grass culture.
Tobacco farmers are now paying
$50 a ton for hay that could be
raised on their own farms for $500
or less. 1t is our conservative ludg-
ment that the growing of more
grass, especially in the tobacco dis
tricts, and the keeping of more live
stock which this would involve,
would do more to enrich Virginia
agriculture than any other factor"
The bulletin reports the results of
several years experiments with
grass at Blacksburg and otherparts
of the State, and gives practical de-
tails in growing. curing and storing
hay: Mixtures of grasses for dif-
lferent kinds of soil are given. 1t is
recommended that grass be seed
ed in August or September instead
of in the spring, and without a
nurse crop of grain. Experiments
at several places Indicate that when
manure is not available, acid phos-
phate and nitrate of soda are among
the most profitable fertilizers for
grass; about 400 lbs. of the phos-
phate at the time of seeding, and a
top dressing of 100 to 200 lbs. of
| the nitre early the following spring.
| Potash has not paid on the grass.
The statement it made that Virgin
ia farmers loose many thousands
, of dollars every year by stacking
hay out of doors. 1t should all go
, under cover.
This bulletin (No. 1913, "Grass
Culture" by T. B. Hutcheson),
$ can be obtained free on application
to the Virginia Station, Blac ksburg,