GRASSES IN ILLINOIS 369 



profitable crop, and redtop is hailed as the savior of the land, and 

 as the money-producer. This thought is soon dispelled, however, 

 for redtop quickly ceases to pay for the labor of cutting and 

 stacking, and the only recourse left for the thoughtless and care- 

 less farmer (?) is the poor house." This expresses the exact con- 

 dition of the hay meadow situation throughout too large a proportion 

 of Illinois. The well-cared-for meadows of the state consist for 

 the most part of either pure timothy, clover and timothy mixture, 

 clover and orchard mixture, or some one of the clovers alone. 

 There is a very small number of farms in Illinois that even at- 

 tempt to have permanent meadows. .The extreme length of life 

 of a hay field, if it is at all available for cultivated crops, is 

 from 4 to 6 years. Where a field cannot be cultivated there is a 

 decided tendency toward seeding it to alfalfa and making the 

 most permanent hay land possible. True there are hundreds of 

 acres of land in the sou'thern part of Illinois which produce a ton 

 or less of poor, weedy, redtop hay per acre, but these fields might 

 better be classed as abandoned rather than as meadow lands. 



Care of Pastures and Meadows. Special attention to a pasture 

 or to a meadow is one of the clearest indications of good farming. 

 Where cultivation and fertilization of the grasslands of a farm are 

 practiced, the grain crops and the live stock of the farm show 

 careful attention and good breeding. The use of the disk harrow 

 in the spring followed by a smoothing harrow has proved of 

 especial value in keeping a pasture free from weeds and promoting 

 the growth of grass. The same is true of meadows. When this 

 cultivation is accompanied by the addition of plant food, such 

 food as the soil indicates by response it is in need of, the growth 

 and yield secured far outweigh the cost of labor and plant food 

 applied. Carefully conducted experiments have proved that with a 

 clover meadow the yield may be increased more than a ton per 

 acre through cultivation and the application of phosphorus. 

 (Steamed bone or raw rock phosphate). This is especially true 

 on the land of the cornbelt of Illinois. While the effect is less 

 marked with the timothy meadow, it is still sufficiently large to 

 warrant the expenditure of labor and money for the application. 

 Pastures respond markedly to like treatment, and not only give 

 grazing facilities for a larger number of animals, but show the 

 benefits of the cultivation and addition of plant food, when broken 

 and put into crops. 



