58 



The Western Rye, Lyme Grass, and Fringed Brome, which stand 

 at the head of the Hst in yield of hay per acre, are all natives of Canada 

 and have not yet been brought into field cultivation in Ontario. The 

 Western Rye Grass which produced on an average nearly 41-2 tons of 

 hay per acre is quite promising. Dr. Jas. Fletcher, Botanist at the 

 Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, in referring to the Western Rye 

 Grass in his report for 1898, states that it has given most satisfactory 

 results as a hay and pasture grass, and also states that Mr. S. A. Bed- 

 ford, Superintendent of the Brandon Experimental Farm, who has 

 grown the Western Rye Grass for many years, has always spoken of it 

 in the highest terms. It is highly spoken of by Mr. Angus McKay of 

 the Experimental Farm at Indian Head. In the report of the Dominion 

 Experimental Farms for 1901, Dr. Fletcher states that "the Western 

 Rye Grass, a native of the prairie regions, is a most valuable grass, 

 and is now much cultivated for its rich and heavy crops of hay and 

 seed." It will be seen from the table here presented that the varieties 

 which are ready for cutting for hay production at the earliest dates are 

 the Meadow Foxtail Grass, Tall Oat Grass, Kentucky Blue Grass, 

 Orchard Grass, and Perennial Rye Grass, each of these varieties being 

 usually cut in the latter part of June. The varieties here mentioned 

 are from one to two weeks earlier than timothy; while the Lyme Grass, 

 Fringed Brome Grass, Bearded Wheat, and Canadian Lyme are about 

 three weeks later than timothy in reaching the proper stage for cutting 

 as hay. 



Varieties of Grasses for the Production of Pasture. It is 

 indeed a difficult matter to make an exact comparison of a number of 

 different kinds of grasses for pasture purposes. In experiments con- 

 ducted for many years in England at Woburn in connection with the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, as well as at other places, it is found un- 

 wise to attempt to compare different grass lands by having the crops 

 pastured by sheep, unless at least three acres are used in each plot. If 

 cattle were pastured on it, even larger plots than these would be neces- 

 sary. It will therefore be seen that if a person wished to make a. com- 

 parison of fifteen or twenty separate kinds of grasses for pasturing 

 sheep or cattle, a very large amount of land would be necessary. It 

 was thought, however, that some valuable information might be ob- 

 tained by using smaller plots of land, and by cutting, weighing, and re- 

 moving the crops from the land, instead of pasturing them with farm 

 stock. An experiment has been conducted, therefore, for fou;- years in 

 succession, by cutting each of sixteen varieties of grasses at that time 

 in the spring when the earliest varieties were ready for pasturing, and 

 then cutting, weighing, and removing the crops produced by each of 

 the varieties at each time during the summer when the more vigorous 

 varieties had produced a suflficient growth for furnishing a good pas- 

 ture crop. The following table gives the average of the four years' 



