302 FIELD CROPS 



Weeds materially reduce the value of a pasture, by occupy- 

 ing space which should be available for better plants, by 

 causing stock to leave the grasses which grow near them, 

 and sometimes by actual injury to the stock or some portion 

 of their products. Thus wild barley is injurious, as the 

 beards cause soreness of the mouths and jaws of stock which 

 eat the mature heads; weeds which produce burs injure the 

 wool of sheep, making it more difficult to clean for market 

 and reducing its market value; weeds with a strong odor, 

 like the wild onion, affect the quality of milk and butter; 

 and other weeds are poisonous to stock. 



In the more thickly settled portions of the United States, 

 the pastures are usually meadows which have become more 

 or less unproductive, or low lands which are not adapted to 

 the production of harvested crops. The general practice is 

 to harvest one or two crops of hay from a meadow and then 

 pasture it for a year or more before breaking it up for har- 

 vested crops. The objection to this plan is that the plants 

 which make the best hay, usually timothy and red clover, 

 are not particularly good pasture plants. While the plan 

 is fairly satisfactory for a year or two, something else must 

 be used if a permanent pasture is desired. 



If a pasture is to be started which is to be more or less 

 permanent, some grasses should be included in the mixture 

 which will give quick returns, and others which will come on 

 later and continue to produce pasturage in later years. It 

 is not usually advisable to turn stock on a new pasture until 

 the sod has become firmly established, usually during the 

 second season of its growth. More seed should be sown for 

 making a pasture than for a meadow. 



375. Important Pasture Plants. The most important 

 pasture plants of the region from Virginia northward to the 

 Canadian boundary and westward to Missouri, Iowa, and 



