104 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



These are but rough estimates, and probably minimize 

 rather than exaggerate the relative importance of the first 

 five. 



92. Palatability of pasture grasses. One method by 

 which the relative palatability of pasture grasses may be 

 ascertained is to permit animals to have free access to 

 plots of different grasses and then to note their preferences. 



At the Washington Experiment Station horses pre- 

 ferred brome-grass to orchard and red clover mixed, to 

 tall oat-grass and to a mixture of 11 standard grasses. 



At the Idaho Experiment Station sheep showed the 

 following order of choice : 1. orchard-grass ; 2. meadow 

 fescue; 3. brome; 4. perennial rye-grass; 5. tall oat- 

 grass. 



In tests at Cornell Experiment Station cattle exhibited 

 the following order of preference : brome, Kentucky 

 blue-grass, meadow fescue, timothy, orchard-grass, red- 

 top. 



The marked preference of cattle for brome was also 

 shown at the Ottawa, Canada, Experimental Farm, where 

 cattle grazed brome close to the ground, while scarcely 

 touching mixed timothy and red clover. 



93. Pasture yield as determined by number of cuttings. 

 At the Michigan Experiment Station a plot of orchard- 

 grass cut 7 times with a lawn mower yielded 29 pounds 

 of dry hay and a similar plot cut 4 times 60.9 pounds. 

 A third plot not cut until in bloom gives 112 pounds of 

 hay. 



In a similar experiment with timothy the yield for 

 8 cuttings was 15.76 pounds, and for a single cutting where 

 in bloom, 172 pounds. 



Extensive investigations of this sort have been con- 

 ducted by Zavitz at the Ontario Agricultural College from 



