22 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 



CLASSIFICATION OF FORAGE PLANTS 

 ACCORDING TO USE 



17. According to the way in which they are used, 

 forage plants may be divided into three classes. These 

 are: pasture plants, meadow plants, soiling and silage 

 plants. 



PASTURE PLANTS 



18. Pasture plants in the widest sense are those which 

 furnish forage in situ, that is, those upon which stock 

 graze. A pasture is an area supporting or containing pas- 

 ture plants. In the restricted sense a pasture is a fenced 

 area. In some localities the term is further restricted to 

 areas of cultivated plants. Small pastures or areas of 

 turf are sometimes known as paddocks. Pastures in the 

 general sense may be divided into two classes, native 

 pastures and cultivated pastures. 



Native pastures 



19. Native pastures include all areas of native vegeta- 

 tion upon which stock is grazed. Fenced pastures are 

 common throughout the United States in connection with 

 all farming operations that include the care of live-stock. 

 Such pastures may include native prairie grass land, as is 

 frequently the case in the region between the Mississippi 

 River and the Rocky Mountains, or they may include areas 

 that are wooded, that are rocky or sterile, that are too 

 wet, or that are otherwise not well suited to field crops. 



20. Ranges. — Unfenced native pasture land is usually 

 referred to, especially in the western half of the United 

 States, as range, and animals feeding or grazing upon such 



