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given to tlie cultivated grazing plants. Judge J. M. Jones, of Florida, 

 states that on the natural ranges and in the old fields cattle will make 

 a good gain for six months, about hold their own for three months, and 

 will need feeding duriug theother three months to keep them in good con- 

 dition. As the proportion of cultivated lands increases, the ranges and 

 permanent pastures will become as important in Florida as elsewhere. 

 In the black prairie district of Mississippi and Alabama good pastures 

 can be made with but little trouble by the use of Bermuda, lespedeza, 

 and melilotus, with redtop and alsike for the wet soils. 



THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD PASTURE. 



In general, the making of a good permanent pasture is a more dififlcult 

 matter in the South than in the North, as it is necessary to provide for 

 a louger grazing season. There is no one grazing plant which continues 

 in active growth through the entire year, and the best growth of most 

 species is made in the course of three or four mouths. Some make 

 nearly their whole growth in the early spring months, others do not 

 begin their growth until late and continue to grow until killed by frost, 

 while still others begin their growth with autumn rains and mature 

 their seed in the early spring. AVhen one species has completed its 

 growth, or becomes dormant for a few months, others are ready to take 

 its place at once, and so a constant succession is maintained. 



SELECTION OF VARIETIES. 



With such constant changes it is often difficult to select species for 

 a mixture, each of which will hold its own without overgrowing weaker 

 species or being crowded out by its stronger neighbors. The best 

 plants for permanent pastures must be either perennials, or annuals 

 which reseed the ground freely and surely. They must be adapted to 

 soils of widely different character, their roots must be able to endure 

 continued drought, and they must be palatable to all kinds of stock. 

 No one species will cover and hold the ground throughout the whole 

 year, and so it is necessary to use a mixture of several kinds, at least 

 one of which should be a legume, and it is difficult to arrange these 

 mixtures so that they will be suited to the widely varying Southern 

 soils, or even to the different soils which are usually found on a single 

 form. Whatever may be planted will usually i)rove to be only the 

 foundation of the pasture, as every locality has native or naturalized 

 species which will finally occupy a considerable portion of the ground, 

 and often some of these self introduced sorts will i)rove as valuable as 

 many of those which have been introduced and deliberately planted. 

 For the whole of the Gulf States, excepting the sandy soils near the 

 coast, Bermuda and Japan clover should be the foundation of every 

 permanent pasture. On alluvial lands add redtop and alsike clover 

 for the damper soils, with orchard grass, sweet clover, and bur clover 

 for the drier lands. On the uplands, yellow loam, and clay sections, 

 orchard grass and bur clover do well on the dry soils, while for wet 



