70 Vermont AGRicirLTtJRAL Repoet. 



able as a hay for horses it is not, as ordinarily grown, what is 

 needed for milk producing stock. Even horses cannot be ex- 

 pected to thrive on it, but with plenty of oats or other grain it 

 will serve them as a bulky feed and is usually free from dust and 

 dirt. When thickly grown and early cut, timothy hay may still 

 be a valuable dairy fodder. In fact, the poor feeding qualities 

 usually found in timothy are due more to bad management in 

 growing and handling than to any real defects. The finer grasses 

 like Kentucky blue-grass, fescue grass,, small red-top or R. I. 

 best grass, and common red-top are best suited for feeding dairy 

 cows. These grasses make a leafy, small-stemmed form of 

 growth, and are thus more tender, at the same stage of develop- 

 ment, than timothy. 



There are doubtless other grasses that have considerable 

 value for growth on certain soils, but it is doubtful if there is 

 anything to be gained by increasing the number of kinds. These 

 have been well tried, and are not found wanting under the con- 

 ditions of climate existing in northern New England. There is 

 in fact more danger of loss in growing too many kinds together, 

 than too few. 



THE CLOVERS AND OTHER LEGUMES. 



As was pointed out under the discussion on composition of 

 hays, many of the plants of the clover family will produce hays 

 of superior feeding value to that made from the true grasses. 

 There are other characteristics however, found in the legumes 

 that make their growth and use a matter of great importance to 

 agriculture. Plants of the clover family have been long known 

 to be valuable as soil improvers, but it has remained for modern 

 experimenters to show why. The plants of this family are now 

 often referred to as "nitrogen gatherers" while those of the grass 

 family are called "nitrogen consumers." This means that the 

 plants of the first group have the power of gathering nitrogen 

 from the air, and of storing it up in stem, leaf, and root, and 

 when they are plowed under of furnishing this nitrogen to other 

 crops. The grasses including the cereals,, on the other hand, must 

 get their nitrogen wholly from the soil, and are rapidly using up 

 nitrogen without adding any to the soil. In the growth of the 

 clovers and their removal from the land it might at first thought, 

 seem that nothing would be added to that particular soil. Recent 

 experiments however have shown that in the case of crimson 

 clovers about ^ of the total nitrogen of the crop is found below 

 the top of the soil, that is, in the roots. When clover land is 

 plowed this nitrogen becomes available for the use of succeeding 

 crops. Nor is this all, the stubble and any second growth will add 



