GRASSES IN MASSACHUSETTS 389 



maximum return from the land. On the average we find that it 

 takes not quite an acre of land for the season to support one 

 cattle beast with an irrigated pasture. Probably orchard grass, 

 brome grass, English ryegrass are about the three best pasture 

 grasses, but in our mixture we nearly always use in bluegrass 

 timothy and tall oat if we can get it. Of the clovers the red, alsike 

 and alfalfa we use, the former of course being in this climate 

 biennial as a rule, and so does not persist for many years. The 

 alsike and the alfalfa are persistent. We do not, however, like 

 to have too much of these clovers, as with the luxuriant growth 

 under irrigation there is some danger from bloat if the clovers 

 predominate. For our dry-land country we have not yet determined 

 to our satisfaction what are the best pasture grasses. The native 

 grasses we find do not yield as well as some of our cultivated 

 varieties, even on the dry bench lands. Alfalfa has been one of our 

 most promising fodder crops and also pasture crops on the bench 

 lands. Brome and tall oat grass also seem to do very well. There 

 are other grasses which we expect to try, but are not yet able to 

 advise as to their adaptability. In our studies on the bench lands 

 the experiments so far conducted have not been continued long 

 enough to warrant us in drawing very positive conclusions. 



NEBRASKA. Prof. E. A. Burnett, Director of the Nebraska Ex- 

 periment Station, Lincoln : It is difficult to determine the best list 

 of grasses and clovers for any region of Nebraska, and much 

 more so for a region which would cover so large an area as one- 

 half of the state. I have asked some of our leading farmers to 

 give me their experience in the matter, a summary of which, along 

 with my own experience would indicate something as follows: 



Best grasses for pasture in the Eastern half of Nebraska: 

 1. Meadow fescue. 2. Bromus inermis. 3. Orchard grass. 4. Tim- 

 othy. 



Best grasses for pasture in the Western half of Nebraska: 1. 

 Bromus inermis. 2. Western wheat grass, native. 3. Meadow fes- 

 cue. 4. Grama grasses, native. 



As you go north in the state, past the center, the district in 

 which brome grass would be superior to meadow fescue as the best 

 single grass would extend to the east. In north-central and north- 

 eastern Nebraska these two grasses would be of about equal merit 

 and should be sown together. As a pasture mixture for eastern 



