| Show MEADOWS OLD AND NEW value of or old te dows ai as compared Com parol 00 mn those newly seeded farmers f are often at a loss to decide whether bother an old meadow or pasture bould bo be broken ni up and und re seeded or permitted hornli to remain lunger longer in its present instances iro are known where condition aridi neb job alluvial lands landa continuously pastured for fora a long series of years seemed to tare have improved rather thail thad to havo have degenerated 9 enc rated tho the yield of grass of course 1 I vary with the season under favorable conditions of moisture the growth ill be early and rapid and the crop of herbage largo large where care lias has been taken to keep out noxious weeds from the beginning such pastin es do not up near pear to bavo suffered from front want of re 5 to practically t icalla test tho the question of the ile t value of 0 old id meadows as compared with those newly seeded experiments running through three years were made by professor beal botanist at tho the michi PrO can fIrOr station on livo five and a half acres 0 of f rather low stiff clay land which had been continuously pastured for twenty years or more in 1888 1883 a portion of this field was thoroughly tilo tile drained and plowed lowed and twelve plats of thirty feet square each were sown with several sorts of clovers and grasses either pure puro or mixed for comparison twelve square rods of tho the permanent Inea doly nud and tho tile samo same number num berof of tho tile newly seeded portions wore selected for the test from timo time to timo time as any of these plats were in condition for cutting tho the grass was mowed weighed at once then well dried driel and weighed wei glied again the tile results aro are given in tables too lengthy to bo be reproduced hero here the grasses of tho tile old pasture consisted consi almost entirely of timothy juno grass and red top A mixture of eight sorts sown consisted of timothy tall oat grass orchard grass tall fescue fowl meadow grass red clover mammoth clover and wild grass from tho the west tho first year of the trial tho the yield of the following fol lowin named grasses among amon g those recently recent I 1 y sown s ow n was very vory light meadow cadow 11 foxtail june grass fowl meadow grass and red top while tho the old p pasture was already established and ready to cut an average yield the first year of tho the trial somo some of tile general conclusions found in the michigan blich igan bulletin aro are as follows aisiks clover some parts of tho the orchard grass tall oat grass and perennial ryo grass bavo have nearly run out while red clover may bo be expected to dio die tho the coming winter the average yield of the natural sod was light when compared with most plats recently seeded one of the striking points was tho the largo yield of tho the plats alt its sown with a mixture of eight sorts if these sorts aro are properly selected such results of mixtures will almost invariably follow whether to keep arable lands of the farm in permanent pasture or meadow meado w in thia this state will de depend pendon on many circumstances cum stances among which may be mentioned the following viz the risk of 0 f having the grasses of tile old sod injured by insects by tho the cold of winter or tho the droughts of summer and tho the cost of seed and labor in breaking up and ro re seeding every two or three years As shown by other experimenters permanent grass lands accumulate a surplus of nitrogen nitro on 1 which is just what is needed for most ther other crops tho the results would doubt less ess bo be very different if repeated on other kinds of soil |
