MEADOW AND PASTURE GRASSES 103 



means of seed and also by underground root stocks. They give rise to an 

 even and continuous turf, and are especially adapted for pasture purposes. 

 They are aggressive grasses and tend to take possession of the land and 

 crowd out weeds and other grasses. The Kentucky blue grass is superior 

 in both quality and yield. Its climatic adaptation is essentially the same 

 as that for Canada blue grass, and ranges from*Virginia northward into 

 Canada, and westward to the central part of Kansas and Nebraska. It 

 reaches its highest development in the region of limestone soils. Parts of 

 Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia and Tennessee are noted for their blue grass 

 regions. It also succeeds well on both the timber and prairie soils of Ohio, 

 Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. 



Soil and Climatic Adaptation. These two prominent pasture grasses 

 are adapted to a cool, moist climate having thirty inches of rainfall and 

 upward. They are exceedingly resistant to cold, never freezing out in 

 even the most severe winters. These grasses prefer well-drained loams 

 or clay loams. They are not adapted to loose, sandy soils. The Kentucky 

 blue grass calls for a fair to good degree of fertility, and where these two 

 grasses are seeded together on such soil, the Kentucky blue grass will 

 soon take full possession. The Canada blue grass has the ability to grow 

 on poor soils, although it will produce only small crops and poor pasturage 

 under such conditions. On poor soils the Canada blue grass will take pos- 

 session finally to the exclusion of Kentucky blue grass. 



Although these two grasses will make hay of fair quality, the yield 

 is so low that they are not adapted to hay purposes. 



Importance of Blue Grass. As pasture grasses these are unexcelled 

 for the temperate portions of North America w r here the rainfall is fairly 

 abundant. They are not only valuable as summer pasture, but as winter 

 pasture for horses and sheep, have no equal. When desired for winter 

 pasture they should not be closely pastured during the summer. Winter 

 pasture from these grasses can often be provided by turning the stock into 

 the fields from which the spring crops have been harvested and on to meadow 

 land during the late summer and autumn. This permits the blue grass to 

 make good growth for winter pasture. Even when covered with snow, 

 horses and sheep will paw off the snow and pasture on the grass. 



Severe drought during the summer may completely suspend the growth 

 of blue grass and cause it to appear dead. No matter how long the period 

 of drought, rains will quickly revive the grass and it will resume its normal 

 growth and condition. It will stand a great abundance of tramping without 

 serious injury. The writer has seen calves retained in hurdle pens during 

 wet weather on blue grass until the surface would be thoroughly puddled 

 and no grass visible. A few weeks after removing the pens the grass would 

 be in as thrifty a condition as ever. 



Methods of Establishing. Blue grass seed weighs from fourteen to 

 twenty-eight pounds per bushel, the legal weight being fourteen pounds. 

 The weight is determined chiefly by the presence or absence of the glumes 



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