GRASSES, GRAINS, AND PLANTS. 557 



earlier settled than the Northern ones, there was a very different 

 condition of agriculture, as respects grazing and hay-making. In 

 some of these States the climate permits of the growth of grasses 

 during the greater part of the year, some species making their 

 growth during the hot season and others during the colder 

 months, so that cattle may commonly obtain subsistence in the 

 field throughout the year, and hay is little employed, except for 

 horses and cattle kept to labor. 



But these places suffer from protracted droughts in summer 

 and fall, which parch the pastures so that cattle and sheep are 

 not then able to find a sufficiency of feed. The pasture and 

 meadow grasses of the North have not been generally cultivated 

 with success in the States which border on the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and the greatest want of agriculture in that region is the intro- 

 duction of grasses that will maintain growth and vigor during 

 protracted droughts. 



The same remarks may be made with respect to the grasses 

 needed for cultivation in the arid districts of the West, and there 

 is every reason to expect that grasses adapted to such conditions 

 of climate and soil will be found. 



Permanence of Pastures and Meadows. It has long been 

 a question as to how long land should be allowed to continue in 

 pasture or meadow. The answer to this question will depend 

 very much on circumstances. 



Unquestionably the best plan for farming is the practice of 

 mixed husbandry, or a mixture of raising grain crops and the 

 fattening of domestic animals ; for, with a diversity of products 

 there is an alleviation of the evils of frequent crop failures, which 

 are usually limited to one or two kinds, and also an alleviation 

 of the fluctuations in the prices of crops, so that where some 

 grain crops fail from any cause, the farmer has a resource in 

 those of another kind, and in his live-stock. Besides, the rota- 

 tion of crops, including the periodical laying down of cultivated 

 ground to grass, and the change of grass-land to the growth of 

 field crops, results in the best condition of the soil. 



In the practice of most farmers, meadow-lands are seldom 

 continued more than three or four years without a change to 

 the plow. But pasture-lands are more frequently kept undis- 

 turbed for a longer time, and so long as they continue in a 



