38 (iUASSES AND HOW TO GROW THKM. 



When meadows are not thus closely grazed in the 

 autnmn 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. Thoy 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 gi-owth of the 

 aftermath will be so vigorous that during the following 

 winter the grass in at least portions 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. Aloderate pasturing, therefore, is frequently 

 helpful, but the aim should be to graze meadows early 

 rather than late in the autumn. Nor should they be 

 grazed when the uroimd is so wet that it will poach 

 through the sinking of the feet of the animals which 

 graze upon it. Grazing mcado^vs 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 grazing 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- 



