MEADOWS AND PASTURES 43 



this is the case, it should be well fertilized and kept 

 free from weeds. 



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. Pradtically all the 

 meadow-grasses are used more or less for pasture pur- 

 poses ; in fa(fl, 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 com, 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 



