168 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



It is intolerant to high summer heat and, therefore, does 

 not thrive southwards. In the area to which it is adapted 

 it has much the same requirements as redtop and is equally 

 late in blooming. 



Fowl meadow-grass was one of the early grasses to 

 receive agricultural attention in America, being considered 

 by Jared Eliot in 1747 as the best grass hay in eastern 

 Massachusetts and decidedly superior to timothy. It 

 first attracted attention on -the wet meadows along the 

 Charles River, where it appeared spontaneously and 

 covered extensive low meadows. It was supposed to have 

 been introduced there by water fowl, whence its common 

 name. On suitable land old American reports give the 

 yield as 1 to 3 tons of hay an acre, and state that it can 

 be cut at any time from June till October. 



This grass has recently been investigated at the Ver- 

 mont Experiment Station. It occurs abundantly along 

 Otter Creek on natural meadows which have never been 

 plowed and which yield 1 to 2 tons an acre. These 

 meadows are overflowed each year, a condition adverse 

 to timothy and red clover, which are absent, but some 

 redtop and Glyceria americana are mixed with the fowl 

 meadow-grass . 



In plot experiments on bottom land, fowl meadow-grass 

 was found slow to start, like Kentucky blue-grass, and the 

 grass was not fully established until the third season. In 

 1899 a yield of 4400 pounds hay and 136 pounds seed 

 an acre was obtained. Late cuttings when the seed is 

 ripe give a considerably larger yield than if cut when in 

 bloom. The yields of timothy under the same conditions 

 have been about 25 per cent smaller. 



On account of the slow growth of fowl meadow-grass, 

 it is advised that it be sown in mixture with other grasses, 



