100 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 
been cut for hay two or three seasons there is usually 
a fair sod of blue-grass. ‘hese meadows are then 
converted into pastures, the timothy and clover gradu- 
ally disappearing as the blue-grass sod becomes well es- 
tablished. After a few years’ use as pasture such fields 
are usually plowed up for corn. The amount of plant 
food that accumulates in a well-managed pasture of 
this kind enables the farmer to secure one or more 
heavy crops of corn. After running such a field 
through the usual rotation of the locality, it is again 
set to grass in the manner above outlined. The prac- 
tice just described is common in Kentucky, western 
Maryland, western Virginia, and in parts of all the 
other blue-grass States. 
The value of blue-grass for pasture purposes in wood- 
lands has already been mentioned. Much land that 
is now occupied by useless brush could be converted 
into valuable blue-grass pastures if rightly managed. 
To do this it is necessary to clear off the underbrush. 
If practicable the dead leaves should be burned. 
Blue-grass seed may then be scattered in late win- 
ter, and in a few years, if the underbrush and weeds 
are kept down, a fair stand of grass can be secured. 
Blue-grass pastures, to be made profitable, must be 
kept free from brush and weeds, and not stocked too 
heavily. The best methods of managing a pasture so 
as to secure the largest amount of feed are more fully 
discussed in the chapters on meadows and pastures. 
In the New England States, where more or less 
permanent grass-lands occupy the greater portion of 
the tillable area, blue-grass is nearly always an impor- 
tant constituent of the herbage in meadows and pas- 
