60 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



farmyard manure, continue to grow Rye Grass year after year 

 without re-sowing. When hay is cut early, seeding is, of 

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

 take care that seed does not ripen. They never permit the heads 

 to flower ; the culms and herbage are always closely cropped. 



Seed of Perennial Rye Grass germinates with unusual 

 freedom, and it may be relied on to produce a crop under con- 

 ditions that are fatal to other varieties. The plant matures 

 very quickly and is not injured by the tread of cattle. While 

 other grasses are dependent on season and weather, Rye Grass 

 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 (given in 

 the 5s. Edition), from which it will be seen that of the larger 

 grasses Foxtail only is superior to Perennial Rye Grass in 

 nutritious properties. Experiments 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 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 giving 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 ' Cyclopaedia of Agriculture ' contains the follow- 

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



