158 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 
from the sod give the mower a motion similar to that 
of a wagon driven over a rocky road. This defect of 
orchard-grass sod can be partially overcome by sowing 
clover and meadow-fescue with it ; but the latter grass 
FIG. 32—SOD OF ORCHARD-GRASS 
is little grown in this country, for reasons that will be 
mentioned later. 
One of the most important advantages orchard- 
grass possesses is that it ripens exactly with red clover, 
and is thus eminently adapted to sowing with that 1m- 
portant leguminous plant. It isa week to ten days 
earlier than timothy; indeed, it is one of the earliest 
of our grasses to furnish green feed in spring, and is 
therefore a valuable constituent of pasture mixtures. It 
