304 FORAGE CROPS 



Dominant Types of Forage. The United States can be 

 roughly divided into three great districts, according to the dominant 

 type of cultivated forage. 



1. Timothy-Red clover region includes all north of the Ohio 

 River and east of the Missouri River. Considerable redtop is grown 

 in New York and New England, and something of all common 

 grasses and clovers, but 90 per cent of the sown meadows are in 

 timothy and red clover, either sown separately or as a mixture. 



2. Cow pea Bermuda Johnson grass region is, in general, 

 south of the Ohio River and westward, including Texas and Okla- 

 homa. Very little timothy or red clover is grown south of Kentucky. 

 While cow peas are extensively planted in this region, very little 

 either of Bermuda or Johnson grass is sown. Both, however, are 

 widely distributed as native plants and come in voluntarily on 

 cultivated fields. 



3. Alfalfa districts include practically all the land west of the 

 Missouri River where sufficient moisture is available. It is exten- 

 sively grown in all irrigated districts. 



Grain hay, however, is more important than alfalfa in the three 

 Pacific Coast States. 



Wild hay is the principal hay in a large district, including the 

 States from Oklahoma northward to Canada, and Minnesota and 

 Iowa. 



Blue-grass and white clover as pasture plants grow abundantly 

 on all good lands north of Tennessee and Oklahoma. South of this 

 line they both grow well during the winter months, but suffer 

 severely during summer. 



Increasing Production. In all the northeastern States the 

 area in hay and pasture has been steadily increasing since 1860. 

 This is primarily due to two causes : ( 1 ) The growth of great cities 

 making a market for hay at profitable prices and the resulting de- 

 velopment of the dairy industry to supply cities with milk. (2) The 

 development of the great grain-growing regions in the West made 

 grain growing less profitable in the East, and farmers have turned to 

 the more profitable hay crop. 



Yield and Prices of Hay. The yield of hay is about 1.4 tons 

 per acre for the United States, and only exceeds this average in a 

 marked degree in those States where alfalfa is the dominant hay 

 crop and much of it grown by irrigation. The price is decidedly 



