FOOD FROM PASTURES 321 



choice eats portions that the other class will reject. A few 

 sheep on such a pasture will aid materially in checking the 

 growth of weeds, and a few goats in checking the growth 

 of bushes, should they be present. 



The care of pastures. The care of pastures has ref- 

 erence: (i) To the extent of the depasturing; (2) to pro- 

 tection from weeds; (3) to improvement by drainage; (4) 

 to improvement by fertilization; (5) to improvement by a 

 renewal of the grasses. Due attention to these matters will 

 greatly increase the carrying power of pastures. Very fre- 

 quently pastures are kept eaten down too bare. Usually the 

 power of plants to grow for the time being is crippled in 

 proportion as the top growth is removed and In proportion 

 to the earliness of such removal. Surface evaporation is 

 always more rapid in proportion as the covering is removed 

 from the soil, whether *that covering consists of living or 

 dead vegetation. Close grazing injures growth because it 

 makes unnececsary treading by the hoofs of the animals 

 grazing, and when winter comes, it injures through undue 

 exposure of the vital power of the plants. It is perhaps 

 an open question whether close grazing injures most 

 the animals that graze or the pastures that they graze upon. 

 If pastures must be grazed closely, such grazing should 

 take place in the spring rather than in the autumn, as then 

 the fields so grazed may reclothe themselves before the 

 advent of winter. 



Weeds injure pastures by drawing on their fertility for 

 no useful end, by excessive shading and by crowding. 

 Even bushes and shrubs become weeds in pastures when 

 they hinder the growth of grass. Weeds that grow burs 

 which adhere to stock are especially annoying. These evils 

 may be mitigated by the free use of the field mower and in 

 some instances of the scythe and spud. Annuals and bi- 

 ennials may thus be prevented from going to seed, and in 

 some instances perennials may be thus destroyed, but not 

 in all. Dense rooted grasses like Kentucky blue and Rus- 

 sian brome will crowd out many kinds of weeds through 

 the density of their root growth. 



