PERENNIAL FORAGE GRASSES 13 



are sometimes prepared on the basis of 20,000,000 viable seeds 

 per acre. 



There are three sources of loss. Some seeds never germinate, 

 some plants die from lack of suitable conditions as, for ex- 

 ample, through shallow sowing, and some plants are crowded 

 out by their more vigorous neighbors. If possible, it would be 

 desirable to eliminate the first two sources of loss; but in so 

 far as the plants fail to survive because they are less vigorous 

 or less hardy than their neighbors, the result is beneficial. 

 While in ordinary practise loss usually, perhaps, occurs both 

 from lack of number of plants and lack of uniformity of stand, 

 it is possible that with certain grasses having a strongly stolon- 

 iferous habit too great crowding may occur. It has been 

 noticed that in certain regions some grasses such as smooth 

 brome grass produce hay abundantly for two or three years 

 after seeding, but as a dense sod forms the production of hay 

 becomes less. 



11. Composition. The analyses of the hay of perennial forage 

 grasses do not indicate striking differences in the composition 

 of different species. The composition of the hay of the same 

 species at different stages of maturity may vary as greatly as 

 that of different species; so that the average composition as 

 given in the table below may be due as much to the stage of 

 maturity and the methods of curing and handling as to any 

 inherent differences in the grasses. Naturally, therefore, 

 analyses of different species have been of little value in de- 

 termining their feeding value. The feeding value depends 

 largely on the palatability and freedom from injurious effects. 

 Palatability depends largely on aroma, flavor, smoothness of 

 parts, and freedom from dust. The table on page 14 gives Amer- 

 ican analyses of the common and some less common grasses. 



Compared with the grains and other concentrated foods, the 

 hay of perennial forage grasses is low in protein and fat and 



