March, IH.SI] 



LAND SURVEY OF DURHAM 



of a ton on the average. Five acres of this poorer hayland will pasture 

 a cow. whieh puts it in the elass with the open pastui-eland for this use. 

 From these ligiires llie production of l)etter class liayhiiids in the town 

 is estimated at 1237 tons, while about 8721/2 tons grow on the poorer 

 lands. Til is gives a total production of 21091/4 tons for the town. 

 (Sec Table 2). The lands with a low yield at present are nearly all 

 capal)le of producing their two tons per acre if brought under treat- 

 ment, anil this is the urgent problem in land utilization at present. 



The grasses on the treated lands are largely cultivated, although on 

 the highei- well drained fields witch-grass soon crowds out the sown 

 grasses. Timothy and red top are the favorites, with red and alsike 

 clovers (and some alfalfa) next in importance. Other wild grasses 

 besides witch-grass are also present, but less common, and most of them 

 contribute little forage. 



TABLE 2.— CLASSIFICATION AND YIELD 



PASTURE TYPES 



FOR HAYLAND AND 



Acreage Per cent, of total 



Hayland 



Residence, etc. 



Treated 



Semi-wild 



Total 

 Pasture 



Well grassed 

 Poor 



Total 



Yield 

 hay pasturing 



(tons) capacity 

 (cows) 



500 



6181/2 

 3,4901/2 



4,609 



1,281 

 3,497 



4,778 



11 

 13 



76 



100 



27 

 73 



100 



1,237 



872 y2 



2,1091/2 



t698 



256 

 350 



606 



On the semi-wild lands timothy and red top, though present, are 

 subordinate and clover is uncommon. The higher lands are apt to be 

 about half and half Kentucky bluegrass and sweet vernal and witch- 

 grass with some poverty grass, especially on the sandy soils. The lower 

 lands have more of the escaped tame grasses ; witch-grass has been 

 partly replaced by foxtail, while sweet vernal is still a dominant 

 species. In the swales, rough unpalatable grasses are found, with 

 sedges and a mixture of the other species already named subordinate 

 to them. The grasses present depend on the character of the soil, 

 which varies greatly because of uneven wearing of post-glacial stratified 

 deposits. 



Pasturcland. Pastureland is the catch-all type. Anything too rough 

 or bushy for hay and with too few trees for woodland has been classified 

 as pasture. Naturally, there is quite a variety in the individual areas. 

 To simplify this, the pasturelands may be classified much like the. hay- 

 lands, placing the open pasture, well grassed and usually suitable for 

 improvement, in the better class, and throwing all the poorer, partially 

 grown-up pasture into the lower group. Another classification on the 

 basis of the tree growth will be described later. 



fSemi-wild hayland would pasture 698 cows or produce 872% tons of hay. 



