l60 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



the pasture is allowed to rest until there is considerable 

 growth upon it, and then sufficient stock is turned in 

 to eat it down quickly, orchard-grass is eaten with the 

 rest. It has already been pointed out that this is the 

 best method of getting the most feed from pastures, 

 though it is not always practicable to follow it. Or- 

 chard-grass revives quickly after being cut for hay or 

 cropped by stock, especially if there is plenty of mois- 

 ture in the soil. In favorable seasons it yields two 

 cuttings of hay a year — another characteristic which 

 adapts it to sowing with red clover. 



The distribution of orchard-grass in this country is 

 approximately shown in Fig. 33. This map was pre- 

 pared in the same manner as that showing the distri- 

 bution of blue-grass (Fig. 19). Each dot represents 

 a correspondent who reported it as an important grass 

 in his locality. An examination of the map shows 

 that it is found most commonly around the southern 

 border of the timothy region; in fadl, it is decidedly the 

 best of the farm grasses in that portion of the country, 

 and is deservedly popular there. It is most important 

 as a hay grass in Virginia, northern and western North 

 Carolina, northern Georgia, northern Alabama, in Ten- 

 nessee, and in those portions of Kentucky in which tim- 

 othy does not thrive. In the regions here outlined 

 timothy does well only on the best alluvial soils, and is 

 liable to be entirely killed by the summer heat. Or- 

 chard-grass is here adapted to a large variety of soils, 

 and yields abundant crops of hay and pasture. It is 

 better understood here than farther north. 



Orchard-grass is also grown considerably in Mis- 

 souri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Wash- 



