CHAPTER VII 

 OTHER IMPORTANT FORAGE GRASSES 



IN addition to the grasses already considered, there are 

 several that are important in certain areas and for certain 

 purposes, though when compared with the three leading 

 species they are decidedly secondary, both as to quantity 

 and value. 



REDTOP 



Next to timothy, red top is probably the most impor- 

 tant meadow grass in the humid region, that is, in broad 

 terms, the timothy region. It is used also for pasture, 

 for which purpose it ranks next to bluegrass. Redtop 

 does not compete with timothy or with bluegrass but 

 supplements them, for it thrives in soils too moist for 

 timothy or in lime-poor soils where bluegrass is not at 

 its best. Hence it is that redtop is used alone or in 

 mixtures for moist soil, or, on the other hand, for com- 

 paratively dry but sterile soil, or for the so-called acid 

 soils that are poor in lime. Redtop is grown especially 

 in New England, the North Atlantic States and in moist 

 or lime-poor soils elsewhere, especially in Missouri and 

 southern Illinois. It becomes more important than 

 timothy in the belt just south of the timothy region 

 from Arkansas and northern Louisiana, through northern 

 Mississippi and northern Alabama to North Carolina. 

 In this belt it is frequently called Herd's grass. 

 77 



