236 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



any kind of soil. 2. It is easily introduced and when 

 once established will endure indefinitely, since it can 

 withstand excessive cold or heat, drought or wet to a 

 remarkable degree. 3. It pushes up quickly in the 

 sj^ring, gTows abundantly until matured, makes much 

 aftermath when mown and grows up freely in the late 

 autumn. 4. It is much relished as pasture by all kinds 

 of live stock, especially if grazed before the plants be- 

 come woody, and produces as much good hay as timothy, 

 when cut in season, and more nutritious in character. 5. 

 It crowds out nearly all kinds of weeds where it grows. 

 6. It may be made to render much service in binding 

 soils along gullies and embankments. And 7. Though 

 it may tend to lessen the fertility of soils when pastured 

 for successive years, yet when buried in the soil it exerts, 

 in many instances, a favorable influence on the same 

 mechanically. 



N'otwithstanding these good qualities, the author de- 

 sires to say with all j)0ssible earnestness, that this grass 

 should not be sown on arable farms or at least on such 

 portions of them as are to be tilled, for the reason that 

 it hinders cultivation; lowers the yields in the crops, 

 and requires great labor to eradicate it when this may 

 be desired. Where it may be legitimately grown is 

 discussed later. (See p. 238.) It also adds greatly to 

 the labor of tillage by the toughness of the sod which it 

 forms. This makes the land difiicult to plough. Be- 

 cause of the extent to which the roots fill the soil, it is 

 even more difficult to provide a loose seed bed than to 

 plough the land ; because of the extent to which the roots 

 fill the soil, it is even more difiicult to provide a loose 



