A PASTURE HANDBOOK 



PERMANENT PASTURES 



CXIMATIC ADAPTATION OF PASTURE PLANTS 



The United States is divided naturally into five main pasture regions 

 (fig. 4), in accordance \\T.th the varying climatic relations of pasture 

 plants. The larger regions have been subdivided into sections 

 (shown by dotted Unes) in order to indicate more definitely under 

 what conditions each of the tame grasses or legumes is useful in 

 pastiu-es. There is, of course, some overlapping of the types of 

 pasture plants at the boundaries of the different regions and sections. 

 Bermuda grass is found in the southern part of section 1-b, and redtop, 

 Kentucky bluegrass, and orchard grass are gro^\^l successfully in 

 some localities, especially at the higher altitudes, south of the 60° 



5-b ty/A/rf/e >>/y//^^/.j- 



FiGTTRE 4. — Map showing types of pasture plants that provide the majority of the pasturage in each 



part of the United States. 



isotherm, which, however, most nearly approximates the line of 

 separation between the winter-hardy and the nonhardy perennial 

 plants. Region 5, the narrow strip along the Pacific coast, is humid, 

 with a %\inter ramfall in section 5-a. The pasture plants recom- 

 mended for region 1 can be gro\vn successfully in section 5-a, and in 

 addition, because of the mild winter climate, certain of the winter 

 annuals which are valuable in region 2 succeed there. In section 5-b, 

 which includes the interior San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys and 

 the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains up to an altitude 

 of 1,500 feet, winter rains are less abundant than in section 5-a, and 

 the summers are too dry for all but the most drought-resistant peren- 

 nials. Here most of the pasturage is supplied by winter annuals of 

 Mediterranean origin, except on irrigated land. 



GRASSES DESIRABLE IN PERMANENT PASTURES 



The more important tame grasses wliich occur in our productive and 

 permanent pastures are listed in table 1 and are discussed in the text 

 that follows. The table also gives information on the climatic and 

 soil adaptations of these grasses, their palatability, time and rate of 



