104 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



the stems begin to assume a golden color. It is cured in 

 cocks and in the mow or stack. Much seed is also ob- 

 tained from wheatfields in Ontario, where the grass is 

 cut and bound up with wheat and both are threshed to- 

 gether and saved. 



If I had a field of cheap land growing Canada blue- 

 grass I would consider it well set in a profitable pasture 

 grass. If it was growing on high-priced land I should 

 begin to work on that field with underdrainage, carbonate 

 of lime and fertilizers till it was replaced by more pro- 

 ductive grasses. If one is in doubt as to whether he has 

 Kentucky or Canada bluegrass let him look at the stems. 

 Canada bluegrass has flat stems, nearly solid, rather hard 

 and bluish green in color; Kentucky bluegrass has taller 

 stems, round and less strong, green and turning yellow 

 soon after the seed forms. 



I once made a grass experiment on very thin mountain 

 land in Tennessee, quite devoid of lime. The grasses 

 that best succeeded there were, first redtop, second Can- 

 ada bluegrass and third orchard grass. 



Redtop (Agrostis alba). For a fuller account of red- 

 tup see page 42 under meadow grasses. Redtop is 

 really a better pasture grass than a meadow grass. It 

 has much the same habit of growth as the bluegrasses, 

 thickening remarkably by underground stems and mak- 

 ing a dense sod. It yields a little more herbage than 

 Kentucky bluegrass. With Carman in Kentucky the 

 yield was 3.04 tons of dry hay per acre, which was 

 exactly the same yield as brome grass and a little under 

 meadow fescue. Timothy gave 3.68 tons cut nearly two 



