100 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



been cut for hay two or three seasons there is usually 

 a fair sod of blue- grass. These meadows are then 

 converted into pastures, the timothy and clover gradu- 

 ally disappearing as the blue-grass sod becomes well es- 

 tablished. After a few years' use as pasture such fields 

 are usually plowed up for corn. The amount of plant 

 food that accumulates in a well-managed pasture of 

 this kind enables the farmer to secure one or more 

 heavy crops of corn. After running such a field 

 through the usual rotation of the locality, it is again 

 set to grass in the manner above outlined. The prac- 

 tice just described is common in Kentucky, western 

 Maryland, western Virginia, and in parts of all the 

 other blue-grass States. 



The value of blue-grass for pasture purposes in wood- 

 lands has already been mentioned. Much land that 

 is now occupied by useless brush could be converted 

 into valuable blue-grass pastures if rightly managed. 

 To do this it is necessary to clear off the underbrush. 

 If practicable the dead leaves should be burned. 

 Blue-grass seed may then be scattered in late win- 

 ter, and in a few years, if the underbrush and weeds 

 are kept down, a fair stand of grass can be secured. 

 Blue-grass pastures, to be made profitable, must be 

 kept free from brush and weeds, and not stocked too 

 heavily. The best methods of managing a pasture so 

 as to secure the largest amount of feed are more fully 

 discussed in the chapters on meadows and pastures. 



In the New England States, wljere more or less 

 permanent grass-lands occupy the greater portion of 

 the tillable area, blue-grass is nearly always an impor 

 tant constituent of the herbage in meadows and pas- 



