38 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



When meadows are not thus closely grazed 'in the 

 autumn the grass starts much more quickly in the spring 

 than it would under conditions the opposite. The young 

 shoots are protected from the cold winds and the early 

 frosts which retard growth at that season. They are 

 thus protected by the aftermath of the previous season, 

 which acts also as a mulch and thus retards surface evap- 

 oration in a marked degree. The increase in the yields 

 from the protection furnished by aftermath is in some 

 instances as much as 50 per cent. 



But it does not follow that meadows should never be 

 grazed after harvest. In some seasons the growth of the 

 aftermath will be so vigorous that during the following 

 winter the grass in at least jDortions of the meadow 

 would be smothered, and in other portions growth would 

 be retarded by the excessive amount of the mulch pro- 

 duced, and the hazard is greater with free-growing 

 plants, as clover, and in countries subject to heavy falls 

 of snow. Moderate pasturing, therefore, is frequently 

 helpful, but the aim should be to graze meadows early 

 rather than late in the autumn. ISTor should they be 

 grazed when the ground is so wet that it will poach 

 through the sinking of the feet of the animals which 

 graze upon it. Grazing meadows thus on clay soils 

 especially would be highly injurious to- them. It should 

 also be remembered that the more closely animals graze 

 the more will the meadows be injured by such grazing. 

 Because of this, grazing with cattle is less injurious than 

 grazing with sheep. The gi-azing of meadows, there- 

 fore, after harvest is usually injurious in proportion as it 

 is late and close, as the plants grazed are lacking in in- 



