GRASSES IN OREGON 395 



siderable superiority, starting earlier in the spring and giving later 

 pastures in the fall. The only objection to this grass is the greater 

 expense of the seed and the difficulty of getting pure seed, as the 

 seedsmen are disposed to substitute the inferior meadow fescue, or 

 even the English perennial ryegrass, which, while a splendid grass in 

 England, has not given similar results in our work by a long way. 

 ]VFy advice, therefore, has been to sow for permanent pastures a 

 mixture of timothy, medium red clover, alsike clover, Kentucky blue- 

 grass and redtop, the idea being that the red clover will occupy the 

 land practically but one year, and will leave additional fertility 

 for the grass following. The timothy will generally disappear within 

 two or three years, and by that time the redtop and blue grass will 

 be ready to occupy the land. The alsike seems to be better adapted 

 to moist situations and to be a little more permanent in its character 

 than the red clover. I am convinced that our permanent meadows 

 and pastures need regular and systematic fertilizing just as much 

 as do the grain fields, and that one serious defect in our system 

 of agriculture is the neglect of this point. I regret that we have 

 no definite experiments on this point, such as we have in the 

 management of cereals. We are now instituting a series of experi- 

 ments in the renewing and improving of pastures, similar to those 

 in progress in Scotland. 



OREGON. Prof. James Withycombe, Director of the Oregon Ex- 

 periment Station, Corvallis : There are many native grasses in this 

 state, but few are of much economic value. Among these are the 

 bunch grasses (Agropyron, diver gens and spicatum) and the sheep 

 fescues. The former are found in the range districts of eastern 

 Oregon and the latter are practically distributed all over the state. 

 The bunch grasses, however, cannot withstand severe grazing, con- 

 sequently are in a large measure destroyed. After the destruction 

 of the bunch grasses the festucas make their appearance. The 

 station has tested about 150 varieties of grasses collected from all 

 parts of the world. Many of these did well, but only a few were 

 considered of especial value. Among the very best for western 

 Oregon are English ryegrass, Italian ryegrass, orchard grass and 

 meadow fescue. These are the best for both pasture and hay. 

 For seeding meadow land it is well to add a small amount of 

 timothy, redtop and Kentucky bluegrass. Kentucky bluegrass does 

 well on the irrigated or moist soils of eastern and southern Oregon, 



