(21) 



It is oftener mixed with other grasses than sown alone, 

 -especially with timothy and clover. But it fails to come 

 into harvest as early as clover, and the same objections may 

 be urged against it that are to timothy. It yields, on moist 

 bottom land, from one and a half to two tons per acre, but 

 on uplands it is not a good producer. On thin lands it will 

 not gain a sufficient height to justify harvesting at all. It 

 withstands the effects of drought much better than timothy. 

 In England it is supposed to grow best on sandy soils. 

 Its effects when fed to milk cows are to greatly enrich and 

 yellow the butter, and European dairymen think they can- 

 not do without it in their pastures. By the Woburn experi- 

 ments at the time of flowering, it yielded 10,209 pounds 

 of grass, which lost in drying 5,615 pounds, and furnished 

 -532 pounds of nutritive matter. Cut when the seeds were 

 ripe, it yielded 9,528 pounds of grass, which lost exactly 

 half its weight in drying, and afforded only 261 pounds of 

 nutritious matter. From this it would appear that this 

 grass is doubly as valuable for feeding purposes when cut at 

 the time of flowering. 



For stopping gullies in old fields it is superior to blue- 

 glass, as it will throw its long, searching roots from the top 

 down the sloping banks of the washes, and fasten to every 

 patch of good soil at the bottom, and then from every joint 

 ■ starts up a stalk to get a fresh hold. It affords a very 

 good aftermath from which, in wet falls, a fair crop may be 

 cut. Unless well tramped in the late fall it is liable to 

 form tufts that rise out of the soil from the effects of 

 freezing, and is destroyed. Therefore, after cutting, let on 

 the stock, and their feet will iasure a good turf, and 

 besides, will destroy weeds. But the cattle should be taken 

 off the pasture after rains have filled the earth with water, or 

 it will become too rough for the proper use of the mower. 



The quantity of seed per acre, when sown alone, is about 

 one bushel. The seed is usually sold in the chaff, it being 

 difficult to separate it. 



