52 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



is able to hold its own under all circumstances, enduring 

 winter frost and summer heat. Another great advantage is 

 that Perennial Rye Grass is so little deteriorated by being 

 allowed to grow old before it is cut. In fact, there is no doubt 

 that as the crop becomes nearly ripe the quality improves, 

 and probably the discrepancies between some chemical 

 analyses and the experience of farmers in feeding stock are 

 traceable to premature cutting. 



The high feeding value of Perennial Rye Grass is shown 

 by Dr. J. Augustus Voelcker's report and analysis, from 

 which it wiU be seen that of the larger grasses Foxtail only 

 is superior to Perennial Rye Grass in nutritive properties. 

 Experiments made by feeding cattle on hay composed ex- 

 clusively of this grass confirm my estimate of its valuable 

 qualities. It also deserves to be widely known that Rye 

 Grass straw cut into chaff is a very substantial food for 

 cattle. An experienced farmer, probably the largest grower 

 of Rye Grass in this country, informed me that he always 

 prefers to give his store cattle and horses the chaffed straw 

 of Rye Grass, when it has been harvested in good condition, 

 to feeding them on meadow hay cut from an old pasture, 

 and that the animals show a decided preference for the 

 former. 



Morton's ' Cyclopeedia of Agriculture ' contains the follow- 

 ing remark on this subject : ' According to M. Pean de Saint- 

 GiUes, a French agriculturist, the ripe straw left after threshing 

 out the seeds is a better fodder than hay made from the green 

 straw. After giving many thousand trusses of the straw to his 

 horses without other food for several months, he found that 

 they ate it as readily as the finest hay, and that it kept them 

 in high condition.' 



The objection occasionally urged against Rye Grass, that 

 it does not produce an aftermath, only holds good as to starved 

 crops, and on soils which are not adapted to grow the plant. 

 Even the very cheapness of the seed has been given as a reason 



