46 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 
Temporary meadows 
53. Under temporary meadows are included annual 
crops sown or planted for hay, although fields of such 
crops are not often popularly designated’ as meadows. 
The plants most used for this purpose are: the grains, 
foxtail millet, sorghum, corn and certain legumes, such as 
cowpea and field pea. Several other plants are used 
locally or sporadically. 
54. Grain hay.—Probably the most important group 
of annual plants used for the production of annual 
meadows is that of the grains. From the commercial 
standpoint grain hay is of importance only in the western 
states and particularly on the Pacific coast. In this por- 
tion of the United States, except in the mountain meadows, 
there is little native vegetation suitable for hay. Under 
irrigation, alfalfa is the standard forage crop; but, over a 
large area where the rainfall, though small, comes chiefly 
during the winter, it is possible to grow crops of grain 
without irrigation. The grains used for hay in the Pacific 
coast states are mostly wheat and oats. In some locali- 
ties barley, especially beardless barley, is used. Another 
important constituent of the grain hay is wild oats (Avena 
fatua, A. fatua glabrata, and A. barbata). This is widely 
distributed, and an abundant volunteer crop may appear 
in a field after a grain crop is harvested. In Washington 
and Oregon chess or cheat is sometimes cultivated 
for hay. 
55. The relative importance of grain hay may be 
estimated from the data for California taken from the 
report of the thirteenth census and given in the following 
table. Important as is the alfalfa crop, its value is exceeded 
by that of grain hay. 
