436 



MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



in yield due to favorable and unfavorable seasons. 

 At Rothamsted, England, during a period of twenty 

 years, the yields of hay from unfertilized grass- 

 land varied from 4,368 pounds per acre in the 

 most favorable season, to 892 pounds per acre in 

 the least favorable one. On vifell-manured grass- 

 land, alongside, the yields varied from 8,960 

 pounds to 4,480 pounds during the same period. 

 Mismanaged land does proportionately worse in 

 unfavorable years when produce is high. In other 

 words, land in good condition gives more uniform 

 yields and the good farmer is more independent of 

 seasonal variations than the poor farmer. 



By intense cultivation and heavy fertilizing and 

 seeding, Mr. George M. Clark, of Higganum, Con- 

 necticut, reports enormous yields of hay (Fig. 660). 

 He says : 



"Last year (1906) my timothy and red-top field 

 contained eleven acres, and the alfalfa field three 

 and one-half acres. The eleven-acre field produced 

 in two crops eighty-one tons of well-dried hay, and 

 the three-and-one-half-acre field produced twenty- 

 one tons In four crops, making one hundred and 

 two tons from the fourteen and one-half acres. 

 The seven - eighths - acre piece is a part of the 

 eleven-acre field, and produced its usual crop of 

 over eight tons, in two crops, each year, or one 

 hundred and forty-seven tons in seventeen years, at 

 one seeding." 



(3) The number and character of the plants per 

 acre. Although it is not known how much empha- 

 sis can be laid on these factors, it is conceivable 

 that they are of some importance. It is certain 

 that an. animal must not have to travel too far to 

 secure its food if we would have it fatten, and that 

 a certain number of plants must be maintained per 

 acre for profit. 



As to the character of the plants necessary for 

 a good pasture, there is little data. Investigations 

 conducted in the United Kingdom, by Drs. Fream 

 and Carruthers, for the Royal Agricultural Society 

 of England, show that there is not necessarily any 

 relationship betweeen the botanical composition of 

 the herbage of a pasture and its feeding value. 

 In some of the best pastures the cultivated grasses 



might constitute as little as 11 per cent of the 

 herbage or as much as 100 per cent ; legumes 

 might constitute 38 per cent or be absent ; miscel- 

 laneous plants, so-called weeds, might be absent or 

 constitute 89 per cent by weight of the total yield. 

 Two pieces of grass-land may have the same grasses 



[« .'I'l ' . * ".ii ■■ 



Fig. 668. Loading bay by band. 



Fig. 663. A recently advertised wagon-loader. The platform 

 is run to the rear to receive the hay; then it is pulled 

 to the front hy means of the hand wheel, leaving the 

 rear of the wagon rack to receive the remainder of the 

 load. 



in the same proportion and yet the feeding value 

 be very different. On the other hand, two pieces 

 may have entirely different kinds of grasses and 

 yet the feeding value be about the same. 



Individual plants of the same species vary to a 

 remarkable degree in duration, yield and other 

 characters, and it is readily conceivable that the 

 variation in feeding value is as marked as it is in 

 other characters. The selection and propagation of 

 desirable individuals is now attracting the atten- 

 tion of plant-breeders. 



Although we have over 1,000 species of grasses 

 growing in this country, not more than a score are 

 in general cultivation, and these are sown on vari- 

 ous types of soils and under very dissimilar climatic 

 conditions. The sowing of grass seed at all is mod- 

 ern, not having been in common practice either 

 here or in England two hundred years ago, pre- 

 vious to which time land was allowed to seed itself 

 as best it could. 



(4) The earliness and persistency of the herbage; 

 its ability to carry stock throughout the 

 season. As already stated, a succession 

 of grasses is generally advised for pas- 

 ture. Taking the period of bloom as 

 indicative of maturity, the order would 

 be as follows, in New York: 



May (end) : Meadow foxtail, orchard- 

 grass, Kentucky blue-grass. 

 June : Meadow foxtail, orchard-grass, 

 Kentucky blue-grass, tall oat-grass, 

 red clover (some plants), white clo- 

 ver, alsike clover (some plants), 

 hard fescue. 

 June (end) : Meadow fescue, timothy, 

 awnless brome, alsike and red clo- 

 ver, Canada blue-grass. 

 July : Red-top, Canada blue-grass. 

 Not all of the above grasses could be 

 maintained on the same land for a long 

 period of time. The following; brief 



