282 GJIASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



grass should ordinarily suffice, but there may be good 

 reasons for varying the same considerably. 



Pasturing. — Perennial rye grass furnishes much pas- 

 ture early in the season but not in the latter part of the 

 same. Although it is relished by live stock before the 

 time of coming out in head it is not so relished after 

 that stage is reached, consequently when it is pastured 

 it should be kept grazed down with at least reasonable 

 closeness. Nor does it stand grazing as well as some 

 other grasses. Consequently it is more frequently grown 

 for hay or for soiling than for pasture. But on heavy 

 soils it is much better for grazing than on those opposite 

 in character. 



Harvesting for Hay. — Perennial rye grass should be 

 cut for hay when in blossom and in the early stage of 

 bloom. Beyond this stage it becomes woody quickly. 

 The method of cutting and curing are usually the same 

 as for timothy. (See p. 72.) When grown alone this 

 grass is probably better adapted to soiling than to any 

 other use, since it is ready early in the season and when 

 cut about the stage of coming into head or sooner quick- 

 ly grows up again. 



Securing Seed. — This grass is a heavy producer of 

 seed. On rich soils it is claimed that it has produced as 

 much as 40 bushels of seed per acre. This amount, 

 however, is far beyond the average. There is perhaps 

 no better way of harvesting this crop for seed than by 

 cutting it with the binder, and curing in the long rather 

 than in the roimd shock, and threshing with the grain 

 separator. But there would seem to be no good reasons 

 why the seed should not be gathered with the stripper. 



