PASTURES, MEADOWS, AND FORAGE 191 



329. Other grasses, as sheep fescue, sweet 

 vernal grass, and similar dwarf grasses, are not 

 to be recommended for general use in America. 

 Other grasses are adapted to special localities, 

 as barley and wild oats, which are extensively 

 used in California for hay. There is a wealth 

 of native grasses, but most of them give little 

 promise for upland meadows. 



4. Other Forage Plants 



330. The plants already discussed, together 

 with other coarser plants of the farm which are 

 fed to domestic animals, are known collect- 

 ively as forage plants ; although this term is 

 commonly applied to such plants as are not 

 grown in permanent meadows or pastures. By 

 recent common consent the term "roughage" has 

 been substituted for them. Both terms are 

 somewhat indefinite. The words usually imply 

 somewhat unconcentrated, dried materials, to 

 which some concentrated food must be added 

 if ample growth, development and surplus pro- 

 ducts, as milk, are secured. 



331. When forage plants are cut and fed 

 green they are called soiling plants. There 

 are several species of plants, as, for instance, 

 the prickly comfrey, which, if fed green, may 



