MARYLAND WEATHER SERVICE 349 



Hay. — As might be supposed, the soils that are favorable to the 

 dairy industry are also well suited to the production of hay, and 

 in the sections too far from transportation to make the shipping of 

 milk a profitable business the raising of hay for sale in the baled 

 form or loose, becomes of importance. The higher areas of the Mid- 

 land Zone, and some portions of the Mountain Zone are important 

 factors in the hay supply of the Baltimore and Washington markets. 



There are some natural meadows from which commercial hay is 

 cut, but more frequently this wild hay is used at home. Most of 

 the hay sold is that from the clover-timothy steps in crop rotation, 

 as these are a standard in the market. Incident to the production 

 of hay comes the production of seed for the replanting of the crojj. 

 Both clover and grass seed are raised to some extent in this State, 

 although neither becomes of great importance in the general market. 



Dairying. 



I >airying has become an important element in the State's agri- 

 culture, and this is found to be directly related, according to present 

 methods, to the soils of the several sections. It has been expressed 

 in saying that "one cannot raise milk where the blue-grass does not 

 grow naturally." This means that in those parts of the State in 

 which the native grasses do not form a turf, as does the blue-grass, 

 there is little use in raising dairy cattle ; for the absence of pasturage 

 is in most cases a determining factor against the production of milk 

 in commercial amounts. It will be seen from the maps on pages 348 

 and 350 that the Coastal Zone is very largely in the area of unfavor- 

 able soil conditions, hence lying outside the present dairy area. 



If, however, the present methods should be changed, so that the 

 use of large fields for pasturage would be unnecessary, the food 

 material being secured in some other way, as by fodder crops, soil- 

 ing crops, or ensilage, the profitable limits of the dairy area could 

 be extended to include some of the lighter loams not now available 

 for such purposes. 



Some people have objected to the use of ensilage because of the 

 possible flavor the milk might receive from the feed. It has been 

 found that if the ration of silage be given immediately after milk- 

 ing instead of before or while milking, there will be no flavor im- 



