II 



MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



XCKPT in comparatively few localities, the 

 American farmer has never learned the art 

 of maintaining grass-lands in a permanently 

 productive condition. This is partly due to 

 the character of the grasses grown, and partly to the 

 treatment accorded grass-lands in this country. There 

 are only three important hay and pasture plants com- 

 monly grown in America that naturally tend to in- 

 crease in productiveness after the second year. These 

 are alfalfa, Bermuda grass, and blue-grass (Poa pra- 

 tensis). When any one of these is once established on 

 land to which it is thoroughly adapted, it remains 

 productive for many years, if given proper treatment. 

 But such grasses as timothy, redtop, brome-grass, 

 Johnson grass, orchard-grass, and tall oat-grass all 

 decrease markedly in yield after the first crop year at 

 least, with the treatment they ordinarily receive. 

 Whether a meadow consisting of these grasses could 

 be maintained productive indefinitely is doubtful. 



In the real grass-growing section of the country, 

 which lies north of the Ohio and Potomac rivers and 

 east of Nebraska and Kansas, including portions of 

 Virginia, Kentucky, Kansas, and Nebraska, meadows 

 ordinarily consist of timothy and red clover. The lat- 

 ter plant has come to be regarded as practically a bien- 

 14 



