II 
MEADOWS AND PASTURES 
XCEPT in comparatively few localities, the 
American farmer has never learned the art 
of maintaining grass-lands in a permanently 
productive condition. This is partly due to 
the character of the grasses grown, and partly to the 
treatment accorded grass-lands in this country. There 
are only three important hay and pasture plants com- 
monly grown in America that naturally tend to in- 
crease in productiveness after the second year. These 
are alfalfa, Bermuda grass, and blue-grass (Poa pra- 
tensis). When any one of these is once established on 
land to which it is thoroughly adapted, it remains 
productive for many years, if given proper treatment. 
But such grasses as timothy, redtop, brome-grass, 
Johnson grass, orchard-grass, and tall oat-grass all 
decrease markedly in yield after the first crop year—at 
least, with the treatment they ordinarily receive. 
Whether a meadow consisting of these grasses could 
be maintained productive indefinitely is doubtful. 
In the real grass-growing section of the country, 
which lies north of the Ohio and Potomac rivers and 
east of Nebraska and Kansas, including portions of 
Virginia, Kentucky, Kansas, and Nebraska, meadows 
ordinarily consist of timothy and red clover. The lat- 
ter plant has come to be regarded as practically a bien- 
14 
