78 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



the prairie grasses of Illinois, nor seen on the rich open 

 plains of Ohio, until white men came. When introduced 

 into prairie regions it quite often crowds out the native 

 grasses and afterwards, so farmers complain, yields less 

 forage during dry seasons than did the grasses dis- 

 placed. 



Give bluegrass credit for having fought its own way 

 alone and unhelped. Without any aid of man it came 

 to the new clearing; it grew about the cabin dooryard; 

 it carpeted the newly-cleared pasture; it enriched and 

 beautified the roadside; it held the clayey hillside and 

 animals cropped it and waxed fat. Not corn, not wheat, 

 not tobacco, but bluegrass became the chief article of 

 export from the Central West, going out disguised as 

 beef, mutton or pork, a large part of each being of its 

 making. Of the millions of bluegrass pastures in Amer- 

 ica only a few have ever had seed of this grass sown 

 upon them. 



Bluegrass varies much in height. I have seen it 4' 

 high where something held it up and again blooming 

 when less than a foot high on poor soil or in cold climate. 

 Its fine, feathery top does not last long but dries up and 

 is not then relished by animals. There is a great wealth 

 of blades, however, and these do not cease to push up 

 all summer and long after most things, are frozen in the 

 fall. The decay of these blades and the creeping roots 

 make the sod which is often tough enough to be rolled 

 into a roll like a green carpet. 



Bluegrass spreads rapidly by creeping rootstocks and 

 thus thickens up a thin stand. Indeed it crowds out most 

 other grasses, give it time. Its ability to displace other 



