MEADOWS AND PASTURES 43 
this is the case, it should be well fertilized and kept 
free from weeds. c 
PASTURES 
Much of what has been said concerning meadows 
applies as well to pastures, and need not be repeated 
here. There are two really great pasture-grasses in 
this country—the blue-grass of the North and the 
Bermuda grass of the South. To these we may add 
brome-grass of the Northwestern Prairie States. These 
are discussed in later chapters. Practically all the 
meadow-grasses are used more or less for pasture pur- 
poses ; in fact, there is scarcely a crop grown in this 
country that is not utilized to some extent for pasture. 
In California herds of sheep graze the leaves and 
tender shoots on grapvines after the fruit is harvested. 
In the South cattle are frequently turned into the cot- 
ton-fields at the end of the season, where they eat the 
leaves and immature bolls of the cotton-plant. All the 
cereals are used extensively for winter pastures, partic- 
ularly in the South, for which purpose they are ex- 
tremely valuable. All over the country stubble-fields 
and stalk-fields are pastured after the grain is harvested. 
Green crops of every description, including corn, sor- 
ghum, rape, etc., are more or less used as pastures, 
and when properly managed they furnish more abun- 
dant forage than the ordinary hay and pasture grasses. 
In the more thickly populated sections of the coun- 
try, especially on the better class of lands, there is a 
marked tendency to confine permanent pastures to 
rough land or land otherwise unsuited to cropping. 
It is contended that the amount of feed secured from 
such pasture-land is so small that the farmer cannot 
