SODS FOR PASTURES 



on wool, or lack of it, a minor matter. The cost 

 to the country, in indirect effect upon pastures 

 only, due to unrestrained dogs, is incalculable. 

 The maintenance of good sods without sheep is a 

 problem without solution in some regions. 



Close Grazing. Much harm results from 

 turning livestock on pastures too early in the 

 spring. The ground is kept soft by spring rains, 

 and the hoofs cut the turf. The grass needs its 

 first leaves to enable it to make rapid growth, and 

 the first grass of spring is not nutritious. 



Close grazing is harmful, exposing the soil to 

 the sun and robbing it of moisture. When winter 

 comes, there should be sufficient grass to serve 

 as a mulch to the roots. It acts like a coat of 

 manure, giving new life to the plants the next 

 spring. Good sods are not easily or quickly made, 

 and when they have been secured on land unfit for 

 the plow, their value measures the value of the 

 land itself. 



[97] 



