THE GRASS CROP ' 9 



would indicate. In the first place, red clover is very 

 commonly sown with timothy, the area thus sown 

 probably being several times as large as the area of 

 clover sown alone. In the second place, they are 

 nitrogen gatherers, and are thus of vast importance in 

 furnishing nitrogenous material in feed-stuffs and as 

 soil renovators. But a further discussion of this sub- 

 ject would transcend the limits of this volume, which 

 is confined, except in a most general way, to a discus- 

 sion of the true grasses. 



The next most important crop in the list consists 

 of grains cut green for hay. Its distribution is shown 

 in Fig. 2. The area of this crop is 3,884,000 acres, 

 and the average yield 1.3 tons. The grains are used 

 extensively for hay only on the Pacific Coast. On 

 non-irrigated lands in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, 

 and California, where the rainfall is sufficient to per- 

 mit of farming, wheat is by far the most important 

 crop. Over much of this area wild oats are very 

 troublesome, and the principal hay consists of patches 

 of wild oats cut in wheat-fields. Even where wild oats 

 are not troublesome, as where the rainfall is less than 

 about eighteen inches annually, much wheat is cut for 

 hay. If cut at the proper stage, wheat, and the other 

 cereals as well, make excellent hay for all kinds of 

 stock. In California beardless barley is used exten- 

 sively for hay; this crop is also coming into use in 

 Oregon and Washington for the same purpose. Al- 

 falfa and brome-grass {Bromus inermis) are also rap- 

 idly coming into favor on the wheat-lands east of the 

 Cascade Mountains in the two States last named. 



Throughout the Central and Southern States the 



