CHAPTER VI 

 HAY AND PASTURE CROPS 



HAT CROP 



Importance. — According to the Bureau of Statistics, the 

 annual production of hay in the United States from 1902 

 to 1911 averaged 60,737,000 tons, grown on 42,557,000 

 acres, and valued at $624,664,000, an average of $10.28 

 per ton. The total amount was slightly in excess of the 

 average annual value of cotton or wheat for the same. years. 

 The average acre value was $14.72. In addition to its 

 money value, the hay crop bears such an important relation 

 to soil productivity and to live stock enterprises that at 

 least some of the principles of its growth and value should 

 be thoroughly understood by every tiller of the soil. 



Advantages. — The value and advantage of the hay crop 

 is often underestimated. Probably you have noticed that 

 it is not necessary to plow and prepare the land for a hay 

 crop as is done for other crops. The grass seed is sown 

 with some preceding grain crop. So seeding of hay costs 

 nothing but for the seed. 



If you go out into a good meadow of tame kay at hay- 

 ing time, you will find very few, if any, weeds; and if there 

 are weeds, they will be cut with the hay crop before they 

 produce seed, as hay is usually cut before most of the com- 

 mon weeds produce seed. For this reason the hay crop 

 helps to clean the land of weeds. 



Another advantage is that a hay crop makes the soil 

 better for succeeding crops, which is not true of grain or 

 corn crops. If there is clover in the hay, it adds nitrogen 

 to the soil; and any hay crop increases the amount of vege- 

 table matter in the soil, because it has a heavier root system 

 than have any of the other classes of crops. You can prove 

 this by trying to pull a handful of grass in the meadow and 

 a handful of grain in the grain field. 



Cost. — There is no other kind of winter feed grown on 

 the farm that can be produced so cheaply in proportion 



