216 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



Meadow Catstail or Timothy, Phleuni pratense (Fig. 63). 

 — This is a very coarse-growing grass, yielding an abundant 

 and excellent hay crop, but not possessing the same value 

 for pasture, owing to its liability to be uprooted in grazing, 

 due to the strength of its stems and the tufts or bunches it 

 grows in. It is a most nutritious grass, very hard, much 

 liked by horses and cattle, and thrives on all but light, 

 sandy soils, though it naturally produces best on clay. 



It should be cut before flowering, owing to the fibrous 

 nature of its stems, and is capable of yielding an abundant 

 second crop. 



Smooth-stalked Meadow Geass, Poa pratensis (Fig. 64). 

 — This is an early grass, and on this account appreciated ; 

 taken all round it does not rank high, though it is a 

 constituent of all good pastures. It flourishes best on a 

 dry soil. 



EouGH-STALKED Meadow Geass, Poa tvivialis (Fig. 65). — 

 Is a valuable pasture plant, found in all rich old pastures, 

 but prefers a shady moist place. By some it is considered 

 the most valuable of the Poa group, its young rich herbage 

 being greatly relished by all stock. 



Yellow oe Golden Oat Geass, Arena flavescens (Fig. 66). 

 — This is a valuable forage grass found in pastures, 

 meadows, and water meadows ; it is especially good on 

 calcareous soils. 



HAY. 



To make good hay certain rules must be observed. The 

 first is that the grass must not be cut too late ; in order 

 to secure the full value of hay, the grass must not reach 

 maturity, or the nutrient matters in the stem pass into the 

 seed with consequent loss of proteid. In the growing plant 

 the valuable carbohydrates become less owing to their 

 conversion into cellulose, so that the older the plant, the 

 more cellulose and the less starch and sugar substances it 

 contains. 



The value of hay depends upon its richness in proteid 

 and its poverty in cellulose, though as Wolff points out it 



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