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 expedtations. 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 trying. 



Brome-grass hay is not yet sufficiently known on 

 the markets to enable us to pass final j udgment 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 hay. 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. I^ike timothy, it possesses 

 the advantage of producing good seed in abundance. 

 The seed is easily harvested, and may be threshed on 



