58 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEARY PASTURES. 



in the surface soil, and as poor land speedily becomes exhausted 

 by the rapid growth, of necessity the plant dies. 



Pastures which are stimulated by the droppings of cake-fed 

 cattle, or which are dressed at proper intervals with farm-yard 

 manure, continue to grow Eye Grass year after year without 

 re-sowing. Of course if a crop of hay is cut early enough, 

 seeding is impossible, and if the pasture is grazed the cattle will 

 take care that seed does not ripen, for they never permit the 

 heads to flower, but keep both culms and herbage cropped 

 close, although Cocksfoot culms in the same field are allowed to 

 become an annual nuisance. 



Perennial Eye Grass will grow under conditions that are 

 fatal to other grasses ; it is the most certain to germinate and 

 to produce a crop ; it comes quickly to maturity, and is unin- 

 jured by the tread of cattle. While other grasses are dependent 

 upon season and weather. Eye Grass is able to hold its own 

 under all circumstances, enduring winter frost and summer heat. 

 Another great advantage is that it is so little deteriorated by being 

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

 that it improves in quaUty as it becomes nearly ripe, and pro- 

 bably the discrepancies between some chemical analyses and the 

 experience of farmers in feeding stock are traceable to the too 

 early cutting of the crops. 



The high feeding value of Perennial Eye Grass is shown 

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

 given at pages 138 and 162, from which it will be seen that of 

 the larger grasses only Foxtail is superior to Perennial Eye Grass 

 in nutritious properties. Experiments which have been made by 

 feeding cattle on hay composed exclusively of this grass confirm 

 my estimate of its valuable qualities. It also deserves to be widely 

 known that Eye Grass straw cut into chafi" is a very substantial 

 food for cattle. An experienced grower, probably the largest 

 cultivator of Eye Grass in this country, informed me that he always 

 prefers giving his store cattle and horses the chaffed straw of Eye 

 Grass, when it has been harvested in good condition, to feeding 



