446 



MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



headway except in New England. Very little of it 

 is on the markets and little is known concerning 

 the quality of the seed or the amount required for 

 sowing. As is the case with most grasses which 

 are not standards, and the seed of which occurs in 

 the markets in small quantities, the seed is usually 

 not of very good quality. 



Japanese millet (Panieum Crus-galli). Barnyard 

 grass. (Pig. 526.) This grass has become somewhat 





Fig. 672. Brome grass (Sromns inermis). 



important in parts of New England. It may be 

 sown for soiling and silage purposes at any time 

 from late spring to midsummer. When cut at the 

 proper stage, it is greatly relished by cattle. It is 



very difficult to cure as a hay and is ordinarily 

 used only for soiling or for silage. 



Barnyard grass prefers a rich, moist soil. The 

 seed is lighter than that of most of the millets. It 

 may be broadcasted, but drilling is preferable. One 

 to three pecks to the acre is sufficient when sown 

 for hay. It is deserving of more attention than it 

 has received, for it yields heavily. It produces a 

 large amount of seed. [See MilleQ 



Meadow fescue (Festuea pratensis). Fig. 554. 

 This grass has assumed importance in eastern 

 Kansas, where it is known as English blue-grass. 

 It is sown in spring at the rate of about twelve 

 pounds of good seed per acre. The first year it 

 furnishes considerable pasture. Thereafter it is 

 used for pasture, for seed production or 

 for hay. Elsewhere in this country meadow 

 fescue is seldom met with, being found occa- 

 sionally on the Pacific coast and rarely in 

 other parts of the timothy region, especially 

 along the southern border. 



Tall oat -grass (Arrhenatherum elatius). 

 Pig. 535. This is found occasionally in Ten- 

 nessee and on the northern Pacific coast, 

 but is practically unknown elsewhere in this 

 country. It requires about thirty pounds of 

 seed per acre and the high price of the seed, 

 usually twenty-five to thirty-five cents per 

 pound, makes it almost prohibitive. It is a 

 light yielder, ripens at the same time as 

 orchard-grass, with which and red clover it 

 may be sown. It makes a fair quality either 

 of pasture or of hay, which, however, is 

 not at first readily eaten by stock. 



Crimson clover (Trifolium incama- 

 tum.) Pig. 338. This winter annual has 

 become established, in recent years, 

 along the Atlantic seaboard, and is oc- 

 casionally met with in the middle South. 

 On the north Atlantic coast, as far 

 north as Preehold, New Jersey, it may 

 be sown at any time from June to Octo- 

 ber first. Ten to twenty pounds of seed 

 per acre are used, usually the smaller 

 amount. It is frequently sown in corn 

 at the last cultivation; also after a crop 

 of potatoes has been harvested. Its 

 principal use is as a green'-manure and 

 cover-crop, but it is also valuable as 

 winter pasture, a spring soiling crop, and, if cut 

 before full bloom, as hay. If cut later, the barbed 

 lobes of the calyx form "witch balls " in the stom- 

 achs of animals, sometimes in such quantity as to 

 cause the death of cattle and horses. The crop is 

 difficult to grow except fn a few localities where 

 farmers have learned its peculiarities and the soil 

 has become inoculated with its appropriate bac- 

 terium. [See Clover.l 

 . Alfalfa. [See Pacific coast region, page 452.] 



Italian rye-grass [Lolium multiflorum), Pig. 560, 

 is the leading hay grass of England and the conti- 

 nent of Europe. It has never been popular in the 

 United States except in mixtures for lawns, where 

 its rapid, early growth soon gives a green coat to 

 the soil, and as a hay and pasture grass in the 



