GRASS MIXTURES FOR KANSAS 375 



Central Kansas : 



5. Bromus inermis, orchard grass, western ryegrass and common 



red clover or alfalfa. 



6. Bromus inermis and alfalfa. 



7. Bromus inermis. 



Western Kansas: 



8. Bromus inermis, western ryegrass and alfalfa. 



9. Bromus inermis. 



10. Bromus inermis and Tall oatgrass (Tall oatgrass is recom- 

 mended for western climate and light soil. 



Combinations of grasses and perennial legumes are usually to 

 be preferred to any single grass, both for meadow and for pasture. 

 A combination of grasses is especially desirable for pasture, giving 

 more continuous grazing, greater protection, more variety, and 

 perhaps a better balanced food ration. In choosing grasses for 

 pasture the object .should be to choose such varieties that the defi- 

 ciencies of one variety may be balanced by the good qualities of 

 another. Grasses should be chosen which are different in their 

 methods of growth and their dates of maturity, in order to lengthen 

 the grazing period, and give the greatest amount and most con- 

 tinuous grazing. On the other hand, for meadow, grasses and 

 legumes should be chosen which have the same maturing season, 

 in order to make the best quality of hay. A combination of grasses 

 usually makes a more perfect sod than any one grass will produce 

 and a more permanent pasture or meadow. A little clover or alfalfa 

 should be seeded with every combination of grasses, whether for 

 meadow or pasture. The legumes are enabled, by means of the 

 bacteria which work on the roots of these plants, to utilize the free 

 nitrogen of the air, and thus tend to increase the supply of nitrogen 

 in the soil, and act as host-plants or feeders to the nitrogen-exhaust- 

 ing grasses. It is very important therefore that every pasture or 

 meadow should contain some perennial legumes, because the pres- 

 ence of these nitrogen gathering plants will not only cause a greater 

 production from the other grasses, but it will make the pasture or 

 meadow more enduring, and leave the soil more fertile than would 

 otherwise be the case when the sod is finally broken for the growing 

 of other crops. Carrying out this principle it is a good plan to seed 

 clover or alfalfa in the native pastures and meadows. I have 

 observed this tried in a few instances, and clover especially often 



