Fodder and Pasture Plants. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



THE dawn of civilization is closely associated with primitive 

 agriculture. If we try to unveil the history of a race we 

 often find it hidden in myths and legends. When it is 

 accessible, we see that a people, after slumbering for centuries in the 

 night of barbarism, advances slowly to the realization of higher 

 ideals. The awakening is always connected with the cultivation of 

 the soil, and agriculture is therefore the foundation upon which the 

 progress of humanity rests. Its development depends upon the 

 climate and the natural possibilities of a people. Climate is largely 

 responsible for the fact that some tribes still follow the migrating 

 life of the nomad, while others have settled down in fixed dwellings. 

 In the warmer parts of the world, where it is easy to grow cereals 

 and other plants, agriculture is much older than far north, where 

 climatic conditions are less favourable. 



At first only such plants were grown as would serve for human 

 food; natural meadows and pastures provided for domestic animals. 

 Even now there are large areas where no special efforts are made to 

 secure food for stock. With increasing population, however, more 

 ground must be devoted to cereals for human food, and the value of 

 land rises. Natural pastures largely disappear and the farmer must 

 grow other crops as food for stock during different seasons. The 

 cultivation of fodder and pasture plants has reached its greatest 

 perfection in temperate regions, where the animals cannot graze 

 during the winter. 



Compared with the cultivation of cereals, the introduction of 

 artificial meadows is very recent. The oldest known were those of 

 the Romans. Clovers, which form their most essential part, came 

 into general use as late as the sixteenth century, since which time 

 the importance of forage plants has been more and more realized. 



Two groups of plants are used for fodder and pasture, viz., the 

 grasses and the leguminous plants, representing two large families 

 botanically known as GraminecB and Leguminosa. All the plants 

 dealt with in this book, except Rape, belong to one of these families. 

 Rape belongs to the Mustard family, Crucifera. 



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