210 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



for " filling," as horsemen say. In any case the harvest should not be 

 too long delayed, lest the grass become tough and stringy and the seeds 

 shatter. In trials with early- and late-cut timothy for fattening steers, 

 Sanborn 6 found that late-cut hay gave better returns. The senior author, 

 in an unpublished duplicate experiment conducted many years ago, 

 reached the same conclusion. 



314. Bed top, Agrostis alba or vulgaris. This grass, of several species, 

 is probably suited to a wider range of climatic and soil conditions than 

 any other cultivated grass. A couple of years are required to establish 

 strong plants from seed, but it then forms a close, well-knit, smooth 

 turf, ranking next to bluegrass in this regard. Red top is often indig- 

 enous to northern meadows and should be more generally grown. 

 Tracy of the Mississippi Station 7 found no better grass than red top for 

 marshy lands and seepy hillsides. It is especially valuable on damp 

 lands from Canada to the Gulf States and thrives on soil too acid for 

 most other cultivated grasses. At the same time it will withstand con- 

 siderable drought and endures on poor uplands. Tho not so well liked 

 as bluegrass, red top furnishes good pasture, and yields a fine-stemmed 

 hay, rated somewhat below timothy in feeding value. 



315. Orchard grass, Dactylis glomerata. Tho it does well in full sun- 

 light, this grass thrives better than most others in partial shade. It 

 endures hot weather better than timothy and is well suited to the south- 

 ern border of the timothy belt. As it starts early in the spring it fur- 

 nishes valuable pasturage, tho stock prefer bluegrass. It grows in tufts, 

 forming an uneven sod, and hence should be sown with other grasses or 

 clovers, both for hay and pasture. Ripening 2 weeks before timothy, it 

 fits in well with red clover. While late-cut orchard grass makes harsh, 

 woody hay, lacking in aroma, that cut in early bloom is equal to the best 

 of the hay grasses, carrying considerably more crude protein than tim- 

 othy. This grass is usually persistent, deep rooted, withstands summer 

 droughts well, and continues growth late in the autumn, producing 

 much aftermath. 



316. Brome grass, Bromus inermis. For uie eastern edge of the north- 

 ern plains region, stretching from South Dakota to Saskatchewan, brome 

 is the most important cultivated grass, flourishing there as do timothy 

 and bluegrass farther east. 



This grass furnishes good crops of hay, equal to timothy in feeding 

 value, for 3 or 4 years after seeding, by which time it usually becomes 

 sod bound and should be renovated by harrowing or shallow plowing. 

 Brome is one of the most palatable of pasture grasses and endures heavy 

 grazing. Tho this grass is one of the most drought-resistant of the culti- 

 vated grasses, Snyder 8 found brome unsatisfactory as a hay crop on dry 

 farms in western Nebraska and less productive than the native prairie 

 grasses for pasture, except in seasons with heavier rainfall than usual 



Rpt. N. H. Board of Agr., 1880. 



7 Miss. Bui. 20. "Neb. Bui. 135. 



