114 ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



Kentucky blue grass will gradually take its place. After 

 bhie grass gets a good start, it furnishes much better pasture 

 than timothy. Permanent timothy or blue grass pastures 

 are greatly improved by harrowing and top-dressing, (spread- 

 ing on a light coating of manure), every two or three years. 

 Brome grass is another valuable hay and pasture crop. 

 It is unpopular in many places because many farms have 

 been infested with quack grass from seeding brome grass. 

 The seed of quack grass and brome grass are so much alike 



Figure 50. — Stacking hay by machinery. 



that only an expert can distinguish between them. Many 

 of the states now have seed laws that require that all seeds 

 for seeding purposes must be labeled, and if a sample of 

 seed contains quack grass it must be so stated on the label. 

 Most of the states have seed laboratories in connection 

 with their experiment stations in which samples of seed 

 will be tested free. These laws will make it safe to sow 

 brome grass. Brome grass is very well adapted to condi- 

 tions where there is likely to be a shortage of rainfall. It 

 is especially valuable in such places for pasture. It will 

 probably never be a very important crop where timothy, 

 clover and alfalfa are easily grown. Its feeding value is 

 a])out the same as timothy, and it is cured and handled in 

 about the same manner. From ten to fifteen pounds of 

 seed are sown per acre, usually with a nurse crop. 



