CHAPTER V 
MEADOW PLANTS 
MEADOW PLANTS are those used for hay. A meadow is 
an area upon which are growing plants that are to be cut 
for hay. Meadows may be conveniently divided into two 
classes, wild or native meadows, and tame or cultivated 
meadows. 
The hay product of the United States is one of the most 
valuable of the agricultural crops, the total yield of hay 
and forage according to the thirteenth census being 
97,453,735 tons, valued at $824,004,877. 
NATIVE MEADOWS 
40. There are three kinds of native meadows, accord- 
ing to the grass that grows upon them. These are prairie, 
fresh marsh, and salt marsh. In all cases the chief portion 
of the forage is made up of various species of grasses, the 
other plants being incidental or even harmful. Prairie 
hay is cut from native prairie that is sufficiently dry to 
be used for field crops. Because available for cultiva- 
tion, the area of prairie meadow is decreasing as the land 
is gradually broken by the plow. Open grass-land, such 
as swales, or the low areas along streams or ponds that are 
intermediate between arable land and swamps, is often 
reserved permanently for meadow. 
In the prairie region and in the eastern portion of the 
Great Plains, the chief constituents of prairie hay are 
(38) 
