328 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



do not by the germs they may drop on the grass en- 

 danger horses or cattle, and vice versa. 



Managing the Rank-groiving Spots. On good strong 

 soils there will be spots where grasses will stand un- 

 eaten, while other places will be gnawed too close. This 

 is a serious waste of pasture land, the richest soil doing 

 no duty while the poorest is overworked. The best 

 remedy may be to mow off the rank spots, setting the 

 knife as close to the ground as it can well run, and mak- 

 ing into hay the herbage taken off. It will commonly be 

 greedily eaten in winter. I have even mowed it and left 

 it stand in the field in large cocks and seen it all eaten, 

 nearly, the perverse animals that had steadily refused the 

 grass while it was green crowding around to eat it after 

 it was made into hay, neglecting the green and growing 

 grass to so do. I suppose that animals are lazy enough 

 to like part of their feed cut for them. On soils need- 

 ing lime, after cutting off the herbage from these rank- 

 growing spots, one can lime them well. Or it may be 

 that they need drainage, though there is no doubt at all 

 that animals will refuse to pasture down places that 

 need neither liming nor drainage, some difference in the 

 flavor of grasses determining their choice. 



Weeds in Pastures. The best way to exclude annual 

 weeds from pastures is to feed the grasses. The one 

 weed that may come no matter how good the grass is is 

 ragweed (Artemesia) and this will be eaten by sheep if 

 they have access to it. To help the pasture, run the 

 mower over it if need be. Cockleburs are troublesome 

 in some pastures, but if they are kept mown off for two 

 years they will very nearly disappear. This is true of 



