110 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



they are now receiving from their native grasses. I 

 would not sow it for meadow in the timothy region. It 

 does not appear to thrive far south of the Ohio River. 

 Hunt remarks that at Ithaca, N. Y., animals relished 

 brome grass pasture better than that of any other grass, 

 a number of species being grown in one field. It seems to 

 prefer a soil rich in lime. On the whole, it is a better 

 pasture than a meadow plant. 



I have found brome grass very easily established, and 

 if the soil is good it rapidly thickens if the stand is at 

 first somewhat thin. Spring seeding on a good seedbed, 

 preferably early in the season, seems best. If I were 

 to mix any grass with brome grass for pasture it would 

 be timothy (which soon disappears), meadow fescue and 

 Kentucky bluegrass. 



Quantity of Seed to Sow. Twenty pounds of good 

 seed to the acre will give a stand. In sowing brome 

 grass on cultivated lands one should be cautious in the 

 matter of the source of seed, since it is sometimes mixed 

 more or less with quack grass. This will do no harm 

 for pasture ; in truth, quack is one of the very best pasture 

 grasses. I do not know which will be victorious in 

 the struggle for supremacy, the brome grass or the quack, 

 though if the land is plowed the brome is soon killed, 

 and quack is left in possession. Brome grass needs clo- 

 vers or alfalfa in company to make it fully productive. 

 I have found it one of the very best grasses to sow with 

 alfalfa where the land is to be pastured, as its presence 

 prevents animals suffering from bloat. It is curious 

 that while nearly all the cultivated grasses spread them- 



