HAY AND PASTURE CROPS IN DRY AREAS 359 



dressings of farmyard manure, more especially when 

 these may be applied in the winter season. They may 

 be also helped by discing in the spring and following the 

 disc with the harrow. 



The duration of those pastures will vary with the 

 conditions. There may be conditions in which it will be 

 desirable to prolong them for a long term of years. Again 

 there may be conditions when they should be maintained 

 for not more than 2 or 3 years. Pastures of relatively 

 short duration will usually prove the most satisfactory 

 in semi-arid areas, because, first, of the more abundant 

 grazing obtained from the fresh pastures, and, second, 

 from the benefit resulting from the frequent burial of 

 humus in the soil. 



GROWING PASTURE CROPS FROM GRAIN 



Many of the farmers in the semi-arid country will 

 obtain pasture from three sources. They will obtain it, 

 first, from the rental of rugged and untillable lands in 

 proximity to their holdings ; second, from grass pastures 

 grown upon their farms, and, third, from the grain pas- 

 tures grown to supplant the grass pastures. It would 

 seem correct to say that the more dry the conditions are, 

 the greater is the necessity for growing grass pastures, 

 and the greater relatively will be the benefits obtained 

 from growing them. 



Pasture from grain grown alone. Winter rye stands 

 at the head of the grain crops that may be grown in dry 

 areas for furnishing grazing. For such a use it would 

 probably be no exaggeration to say that it is more valuble 

 than all other cereal grains. When sown early it may be 

 grazed in the autumn, and again in the spring. Winter 

 wheat when sown early may be grazed in the autumn 

 when sufficiently strong, but in the spring it will not 

 stand grazing as rye does, especially when a crop of grain 

 is to be obtained from it the same season. It would 



