Putnam patriot., 1917-04-20
USING FERTILIZERS
 ON THE GRASS CROP

applied directly to the grass crop, or
 to other crops in the rotation. The ef-
 feet differs only in degree
 Feeding the Previous Crop.
 Whereper short rotation is fol-
 lowed, that is, grass once in every
 three or four years. farmers have
 found it profitable to fertilize grass
 through the medium of the preceding
 crop. In Virginia, some growers put
 an extra amount of fertilizer on the
 tobacco crop. turn a profit from this
 through increased yields, and a still
 further profit from the larger grass crop which follows. Potato farmers
 in Aroostook county. Maine. carry out
 the same idea, using from 1.500 to
 2OOo pounds of fertilizer on potatoes.
 and but little on the oats and grass
 crops. Likewise the dairy farmers
 in Massachusetts and Connecticut
 have found. fin a short rotation, that the cheapest way to get a good grass
 crop is to fertilize heavily the crops
 immediately preceding. Experiment station results show that these expe-
 rienees of practical farmers are sup ported by the results of scientific tests.
 The Pennsylvania experiment sta ton. on some of it's rotation plots. saeds down the grass and clover with the wheat crop. The wheat crop Is
 heavily fertilized, the grass crop Is
 not. Over long period of years the hay crop following the fertilized
 wheat had yielded nearly a ton high er than the hay crop following unfer- tilized wheat.
 The Ohio experiment station Is fol- lowing five-year rotation-corn, oats,
 wheat, grass and clover The corn. oats and wheat are fertilized; the grass crop is not. As a result of nearly 20 years work this station has found an increase of 1.250 pounds
 of clover and 760 pounds of timothy fsecond year hay) when sown in fer tilized wheat as compared with the same seed mixture when sown in un- fertilized wheat
 The Virginia experiment station found in one case that 1000 pounds of complete fertilizer per acre applied to tobacco, increased the succeeding hay crop by more than two tons per acre. and the year following gave q still fur ther increase of F bushels in the corn crop.
 Profitable Hay
 One of the best ways of getting a
 large hay crop is to use q liberal amount of plantfood on the money
 crops, or the grain crops, in the rota ton. This plantfood may be either
 manure or fertilizers-but should usu-
 ally include both.
 Fall Seeding Without Nurse Crop. Where grass follows grass, or where
 q grain crop Is not included in the TO- tation, fertilizer must be applied at the time of seeding down. Use 200 to | 300 pounds per acre of a fertilizer
 analyzing two to three per cent ammo | nia, eight to ten per cent phosphorlc
 acid, and when possible four to five | per cent potash. Clay soils require | less potash than loams; sandy and 1 clay soiis more nitrogen This formu- | Ia furnishes nitrogen enough to start ]
 the crop but leaves no surplus to be
 lost by teaching. IT gets the mineral
 elements-potash and phosphoric acid
 so distributed through the soils as
 to he of the greatest value, yet il is not so costly as to be prohihitive.
 Larger quantities must be used how
 ever, when it is expected to keep the field in grass for a number of years. 1 How and When to Top Dress. | Just as the grass Is turning green in
 the spring, apply fertilizer analyzlng from six to eight per cent available ni- | trogen and three to five per cent phos- l phoric acid and as much potash as can
 be economically purchased On muck
 soils more potash is necessary. and
 on sandy soils more phosphoric acid.
 Amounts Profitable to Apply.
 This fertilizer gives the grass
 good start. makes it grow rapidly dur l ing the season when there is plenty l while increase in the crop If hay
 Is usually worth s10 to SIP ton in the barn. POO pounds of the above fer | tilizer may he used If it is worth
 SIS in the barn, 300 pounds gives higher acre profit Finally, If the | farmer Is so located that his hay Is worth SIS or over, he can we'll afford
 to use 100 to 500 pounds of this fer
 tilizer and make the hay crop the
 most profitable crop on his farm. It
 will then give more dollars for less l labor than any other crop which he | can produce.
 Permanent Mowinqs When land is cropped permanently
 to grass. yields are usually lower than
 in rotation mowingS. The field becomes roothound and fertility sometimes be-
 comes SO low that the crop is often not
 worth the cutting. Weeds diSplace the l grasses. and the quality of the crop i becomes SO poor that il ranks as
 "Stock hay'-not because il k esne- cially good for feeding to stock. but i because it has no other possible use. i This condition shows neglect of the
 fundamental principle underlying i Quality-that good feeding iS neces- Sary for good quality products. Making Permanent Sods Pay. Permanent mowings can he kept \ productive almost Indefinitely. The experiences of numbers of farmers. as we'll as the published records of our
 experiment sratlonS. demonstrates this. l Annual top-dreSSing with q eanlplete