22 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 
CLASSIFICATION OF FORAGE PLANTS 
ACCORDING TO USE 
17. According to the way in which they are used, 
forage plants may be divided into three classes. These 
are: pasture plants, meadow plants, soiling and silage 
plants. 
PASTURE PLANTS 
18. Pasture plants in the widest sense are those which 
furnish forage in situ, that is, those upon which stock 
graze. A pasture is an area supporting or containing pas- 
ture plants. In the restricted sense a pasture is a fenced 
area. In some localities the term is further restricted to 
areas of cultivated plants. Small pastures or areas of 
turf are sometimes known as paddocks. Pastures in the 
general sense may be divided into two classes, native 
pastures and cultivated pastures. 
Native pastures 
19. Native pastures include all areas of native vegeta- 
tion upon which stock is grazed. Fenced pastures are 
common throughout the United States in connection with 
all farming operations that include the care of live-stock. 
Such pastures may include native prairie grass land, as is 
frequently the case in the region between the Mississippi 
River and the Rocky Mountains, or they may include areas 
that are wooded, that are rocky or sterile, that are too 
wet, or that are otherwisé not well suited to field crops. 
20. Ranges.—Unfenced native pasture land is usually 
referred to, especially in the western half of the United 
States, as range, and animals feeding or grazing upon such 
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