Early fall applications are considered most satisfactory, but late fall and early spring applications are also successful.
The need for lime
Lime is second in importance to phosphorus in the treatment of New York pastures. The best condition for pasture growth is a soil that tests between pH 6 and pH 7.- It is recommended that soils testing between pH 5 and pH 6 should receive an application of 2000 pounds of ground limestone to the acre, and that those testing below pH 5 should receive 3000 pounds. County agricultural agents in the State make such soil tests free of charge if requested to do so. Applications of limestone should be repeated usually at intervals of from four to eight years if further tests indicate the need.
The need for potash
New York pastures respond to potash less frequently than they do to phosphorus and lime. Potash deficiencies have been found most often on light sandy and gravelly soils and in fields that have been depleted in fertility by the removal of hay and other crops without adequate applications of manure or fertilizers containing potash. When potash is needed, it should be applied in the form of muriate of potash at the rate of about 100 pounds to the acre. This application may be repeated at intervals of about four years.
The need for nitrogen
The need for nitrogen in the improvement of New York pastures is usually as great as is the need for phosphorus. Fortunately, the nitrogen required can be supplied under New York conditions by encouraging the growth of pasture legumes by suitable fertilization and periodical close grazing. The most valuable legumes in New York pastures are wild white clover (Trifolium repens var.), wild birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus var.), and yellow trefoil (Medicago lupulina). Of these, wild white clover is the most widely distributed and the most valuable. It is a wild form of the commercial white Dutch clover from which it differs by possessing smaller leaves and flowers, by flowering later, and, what is of greatest practical importance, by being a true perennial that remains permanently in the pasture sward; whereas plants produced from seed of commercial white Dutch clover behave like medium-red clover and seldom survive more than two years.
Some extremely poor pastures contain no wild white clover or contain less than an average of one plant to the square yard evenly distributed. In these pastures it is advisable to introduce wild white clover into the sward by sowing 1 pound of seed to the acre in late March or early April.
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