BROME-GRASS 1 69 



producing grass, but it has been a disappointment to 

 many farmers in this respedl. The disappointment 

 was due to too great expedlations. It does produce a 

 fine crop of hay, apparently the equal of timothy, for 

 one or two years, but by the third year, except on very 

 rich, moist land, it becomes so sod-bound that it sends 

 up very few seed-stalks, though it continues indefinitely 

 to produce an abundance of short, leafy growth, excel- 

 lent for pasture. A few instances are reported in 

 which farmers have plowed the sod in the fall and 

 harrowed it down smooth, thereby renewing it to full 

 vigor as a hay producer. Experience in this line is 

 yet too meagre to justify the assertion that this prac- 

 tice would be generally successful. It is certainly 

 worth trjong. 



Brome-grass hay is not yet sufficiently known on 

 the markets to enable us to pass final judgment upon 

 it. Experiments have demonstrated that it is as nu- 

 tritious as timothy, and. abundant experience shows it 

 to be relished by stock. But the same is true of sev- 

 eral other kinds of hay that have little standing on the 

 markets. It requires long experience of many feeders 

 to settle the status of any kind of haj-. The men who 

 feed livery horses in the cities are the jury that passes 

 final judgment in matters of this kind, and their dic- 

 tum furnishes the market rating of all classes of hay. 

 When we have learned more about how to grow brome- 

 hay, and its true value has been' determined by the 

 feeder, it may become a standard, particularly in the 

 markets of the Northwest. lyike timothy, it possesses 

 the advantage of producing good seed in abundance. 

 The seed is easily harvested, and may be threshed on 



