GRASSES, GRAINS, AlVU PLANTS. 561 



quently ready to be cut two months from the time of sowing. 

 They generally produce an abundance of nutritious seeds, on 

 account of which cattle thrive better on them than on corn 

 fodder. Beets and prickly comfrey are also recommended as 

 fodder plants in some localities. 



The pastures may also often be relieved by turning stock on 

 to stubble after harvest. 



Humanity dictates that a man should not keep any more 

 stock than he can under ordinary circumstances care for and 

 give sufficient feed. But a provident and good manager will be 

 enabled safely to keep a much larger number than a man who 

 is shiftless and careless. He will do this by making provision 

 for casualties and probable contingencies. It is much better 

 and more profitable to have a surplus of feed than to have a 

 deficiency. 



Kinds of Grasses for Meadows and Pastures. In this coun- 

 try there has been very little variety in the kinds of grasses cul- 

 tivated, the range being generally timothy, blue-grass, or June- 

 grass, orchard-grass, and redtop, usually combined more or less 

 with red or white clover. 



Farmers are influenced somewhat by the markets they supply. 

 The most popular hay in the markets of the great cities is 

 timothy, and meadows of this grass alone are very common, and 

 when well managed are very satisfactory and profitable. It is 

 also very common to combine timothy with red clover in various 

 proportions. 



In low, wet meadows, particularly in New England, redtop is 

 considerably employed, and it is a common constituent of pas- 

 tures in all the Northern States. 



In England, great attention has been given to combining 

 several kinds of grasses in meadows, and it is claimed that the 

 practice is better for the land, and gives a larger yield than when 

 one variety only is employed. By using a mixture, the ground 

 may often be more uniformly covered, and in pastures there will 

 be, from the different flowering time of the different species, a 

 succession and continuation of a supply of tender foliage. 



Some species of grass are adapted to clay lands, some to sandy 

 soils, some to loam, some to dry upland, and some to low land ; 

 but even for land of a uniform quality it is believed that a mix- 



