TiTF. ftnASS Chop. 



BY PK. C. A. GOESSMANN, CHEMIST TO THE BOARD. 



Within a few pages I propose to discuss briefly some of 

 the points which deserve a serious consideration when aim- 

 ing at a remunerative production of grasses for fodder. A 

 short description of some field experiments with grasses 

 carried on by the writer during a series of years upon the 

 fields of the Massachusetts Agricultural College may serve 

 in some measure as an illustration in the matter. 



Adaptation of Soil. 



A successful production of our valuable meadow and past- 

 ure grasses depends in a less degree on any particular kind 

 of soil than on a well-regulated, constant supply of moisture. 

 Light, sandy soils are known to furnish good meadows and 

 pastures, provided the necessary amount of moisture and 

 of suitable available plant food is furnished during the en- 

 tire growing season. A deep loam or mellow clayish loam 

 is, however, considered the typical soil for grass lands. 

 Our best meadows are found as a rule upon lands which 

 contain either a liberal admixture of a fine clayish silt in 

 their original make-up or receive periodical addition of that 

 kind by overflow or otherwise. These materials are usually 

 comparatively rich in various kinds of plant food ; they 

 exert in many instances a beneficial eft'ect on the retentive 

 qualities of the soil, as far as moisture and available plant 

 food are concerned ; and they tend to protect the root sys- 

 tem against extremes of climate and season, by rendering 

 the soil more compact and closed up. 



No class of crops is more seriously aflfected by a periodical 

 access of an excess of water or by exposure to a serious pe- 

 riod of dryness than the grasses. A frequent occurrence of 



