VI. iWSTURL PLANTS 



"Thou crcKcnest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drof) fatness. 



They drop upon the pastures of the unlderness: and the little hills 

 rejoice on every side. 



The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over 

 with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing." 



— A Psalm of David n'salm 65:11-131. 



Before there were tilled fields, there were green pastures. 

 The grazing animals made them. They cropped the tall 

 vegetation and tram])led the succulent herbage, and pasture 

 grasses s]Drang up and flourished in their stead. \\Tierever 

 there wore pieces of level ground frequented by wild cattle, 

 there pastures developed. 



Pasture plants have seeds that are readily carried about and 

 distributed by the muddy feet of cattle. They also have 

 good staying qualities : once rooted in the soil, they will li\'e 

 long even where they can grow but little. So we find them 

 growing ever^^vhere, flourishing in the light, hanging on in the 

 shadow, as if waiting for a chance — even in the deep shadow 

 of the woods. Cut do^vn the trees, and the grasses appear. 

 Keep all the taller plants cut down, and the grasses spread and 

 fonn a meadow. Brush-covered hills are sometimes changed 

 into pastures simply by cutting them clean and turning in 

 sheep. More sheep are kept on them than can find good 

 forage; so, they are reduced to eating every green thing. It 

 is hard on the sheep, but the grasses, relieved of the competi- 

 tion of the taller plants, spread in spite of very close cropping. 

 After two or three seasons, the hills are turf -covered : the 

 woody plants are gone. This is a crude method of pasture 

 making, and one that is coming to be practiced in our day 

 more often with goats than with sheep, goats having a \\'ider 

 range of diet ; but it illustrates some fundamental condi- 



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