202 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



For horses, timothy is par excellence the fodder. No 

 fodder grown on the continent will at all compare with it 

 in popularity for this purpose. It occupies the place among 

 horse fodders that oats does among grains. Timothy and 

 oats are the standard and favorite foods for horses wher- 

 ever they can be grown. 



The high estimate thus put upon timothy arises : First, 

 from its freedom from dust; second, from the little loss re- 

 sulting from handling it; and third, from the fondness 

 which horses show for it. It does not, like clover and al- 

 falfa, produce too much of laxness in the bowels, and it 

 seems to impart and sustain both nerve and staying power 

 akin to the results that come from feeding oats. It has, 

 moreover, peculiar adaptation for being fed to horses that 

 are driven much and fast or worked hard. But mixed tim- 

 othy and clover has higher adaptation for being fed to foals, 

 young horses, brood mares and horses that are idle because 

 of its higher protein content. 



Hay from grasses other than timothy. Prominent 

 among the grasses other than timothy that are grown in the 

 United States for feeding as hay, are Redtop (Agrostis 

 vulgaris), Russian brome (Bromus inermis), Orchard 

 grass (Dactylus glomerata), Meadow fescue (Festuca pra- 

 tensis), Tall oat grass (Arrhenatherum avenaceum), West- 

 ern rye grass (Agropyrum tenerum), Kentucky blue grass 

 (Poa pratensis), Canadian blue grass (Poa compressa] 

 and in the South Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon). The 

 wild grasses of the prairie are also an important source of 

 hay in western and northwestern areas. Other grasses, as 

 for instance, Perennial rye grass (Lolium perenne), Italian 

 rye grass (Lolium Italicum), Texas blue grass (Poa ari- 

 chnifera), Rough stalked meadow grass (Poa trivialis), 

 Fowl meadow grass (Poa serotria^, Rescue grass (Bromus 

 unioloides) and Velvet grass (Holcus lanatus) are grown 

 more or less largely for fodder, but because of the compara- 

 tively limited areas to which their growth is restricted, they 

 will not be discussed here further than to say that being 



