19 



wben ou low aud wet ground they sometimes suffer from that disease. 

 The vetch grows best on a rich and heavy soil, does fairly well ou rather 

 thin clay lauds, but is worthless ou light soils. Wheu sowu with turf 

 oats, it makes but little show iu early winter, but from January ouward 

 it nearly doubles the amount of grazing and does not interfere with the 

 growth of the oats. Mr, E. R. Lloyd, the agriculturist of the Missis- 

 sippi experiment station, says: "This is the best combination I have 

 ever seen for winter grazing, and our farmers are beginning to realize 

 its value. Ou the bottom land where we grew the mixture last year 

 we grew a crop of peas during the summer, with a view to hilling out 

 the Johnson grass. This fall 

 there is very little of the 

 Johnson grass to be seen, 

 while the oats and vetch 

 came up well after the first 

 fall of rain, without reseed- 

 ing. The field is now (No- 

 vember 14) very green and 

 would make fine grazing.'' 

 On good soils the mixture 

 may be grazed from jSTovem 

 ber to March, when, if the 

 stock be taken off, it will 

 make fully a ton of fine hay 

 per acre by the last of May. 

 If grazed continuously until 

 June, it will usually reseed 

 the ground sufficiently for a 

 crop the following season, 

 though the volunteer oat crop 

 is rather uncertain. 



MEADOWS. 



Bermuda, Johnson grass, 

 and cowpeas furnish fully 

 three-fourths of the hay used in the Gulf States. A dozen or more 

 other si)ecies are used to some extent, and a still larger number might 

 be advantageously cultivated. Much of what has been said in regard 

 to permanent pastures applies equally well to the formation of per- 

 manent meadows. The more important of the grasses and forage 

 plants used in the formation of such meadows are described below. 







Fig. 2. — Alfalfii (Medicago sativa). 



ALFALFA. 



Alfalfa (fig. 2) is rapidly growing in favor, especially on well-drained 

 alluvial soils, where it gives repeated cuttings and improves with age. 

 On the rich soils along tlie Ked and Mississippi rivers it is especially 

 valuable, and it is also succeeding well in many places along the Gulf 



