GREEN FORAGE 



35 



5-9. Commercial waste products (from milling, brewing and distill- 

 ing, sugar, starch and oil production). 

 10. Animal feeding stuffs. 



I. Green Forage 



The term "green forage" is applied collectively to all feeding stuffs 

 that are used or fed in the green or fresh state. The term is applied in 

 particular to the leaves and stems of the grasses (Graminese), clovers, a 

 few other Leguminosae (esparcet, alfalfa or lucerne, serradella, hop 

 trefoil) (Medicago lupulina), kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), 

 white or Dutch clover, vetches, sow beans, field peas, spurry {Spergula 

 arvensis), buckwheat, beets, turnips, etc. 



Botanical. The main representatives of the meadow or pasture 

 grasses are the socalled true meadow grasses or sweet grasses. They may 

 be recognized by their round, hollow, nodose stems, the split sheathes of 



Ik 



Fig. 11. Stem of grass. 

 a. External view 



longitudinal section. Fig. 12. Stem of grass, surrounded by leaf 

 sheath, ligule and leaf. 



the leaf bases and the ligule (Figs. 11 and 12), and are thus distinguished 

 from the reeds and sedges or sour grasses. 



The sedges are characterized by a triangular solid stem, without 

 nodes, and leaves with closed sheathes. These so-called sour grasses 

 grow in damp, swampy meadows that are poorly drained and in which 

 free humic acid is formed by the conversion of the humus in the soil. 

 The principal representatives of the sour grasses are the Juncaceae 

 (rushes), Cyperaceai (reeds) and, above all the most common, the genus 

 Carex or the sedges. 



With reference to the different species of grasses under consideration, 

 the following groups are distinguished : 



1. Sweet grasses. 



2. Sour grasses. 



3. Scouring rushes. 



4. Herbaceous plants. 



Below is given a short guide for the determination, and a description, 

 of the more important meadow grasses : 



