40 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 
42. Salt marsh-grass is utilized for hay in many locali- 
ties along the seacoast. Large areas of marsh land sub- 
ject to the diurnal tides or to occasional high tides are 
useful for no other purpose than the grass crop that they 
produce. When utilized for hay these marshes are drained 
by open ditches. In some cases the sea is kept out by 
dikes, in which case the land becomes productive and 
valuable. The hay from salt marshes is of considerable 
value for fodder, the value depending on the kind of grass 
and the degree of salinity of the soil. Much of this hay 
is used for litter for stock and for packing-material. The 
chief constitutents of salt marsh-hay are switch-grass 
(Panicum virgatum), little bluestem (Andropogon scopa- 
rius), black-grass, a kind of rush (Juncus Gerardii Loisel.), 
all of value for forage, and several species of Spartina, or 
cord-grass (Spartina glabra and S. juncea being the 
most important), these latter being used chiefly for 
packing. 
TAME MEADOWS 
43. Tame meadows may be divided into two classes, 
permanent and temporary. It is only to the former class 
that the term meadow is popularly applied. 
Permanent meadows 
44. Permanent meadows are those that have been 
seeded down with forage plants with the intention of 
maintaining them for a series of years to produce hay. 
The chief meadow plants used in the United States are: 
of the legumes, alfalfa, red clover and to a limited 
extent alsike clover; among the grasses, timothy and 
redtop. 
