8 BULLETIN 397. I". S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICELir/EE. 
GETTING A SOD. 
Very little bltiegrass has been sown in any of this region except in 
central Kentucky, where pastures are often plowed and the field 
cropped for a few years. The customary procedure is to clear addi- 
tions to the pasture fields and allow the bltiegrass to come in itself. 
(Fig. 9.) It usually takes three or four years by this method to get 
a fairly good stand of grass. If this is grazed properly, the quality of 
k 
V ^-** <C 
Fig. 7. — Silas used for feeding steers during the •vrinter. Silareis :r~r used move generally :':: Oils 
purpose, because more steers can be kept with the same yield cf corn ensiled than if fed dry. 
the sod will gradually improve for many years. Where the land is 
level enough to plow and prepare a seed bed. it is possible to permit 
much more grazing the first two or three years and to get a permanent 
sod more quickly by seeding a mixture of grasses, such as orchard 
grass, redtop. red or alsike clover, tall oat-grass, and timothy, along 
with the bltiegrass. Bluegrass and white clover will eventually crowd 
out most of the other grasses, although orchard grass will persist for 
many years, thereby adding to the early spring and late fall grazing. 
