FOOD FOR CATTLE. 
67 
take place, the stalk dries and becomes woody, hard, and less suitable both for mastication 
and nourishment. We arrive at the same results, the period of maturity, by analysis ; for 
example, it is found that the nutrient matter does not increase in the stem of the grass 
after its blossoms are matured. These remarks of course apply only to those cases where 
the stalk, and not the seed, is to be used as food. 
A character of the grasses, which is worthy of notice, is their mode of growth so as to 
form a turf. This, however, is not universal. The coarse grasses, as the sedges, form 
hummocks in marshes, but never a uniform surface. Rye, oats and wheat, never form 
turf. This property belongs to timothy, red-top, and several others of the better kinds of 
grasses. Besides giving to a landscape a superior beauty and elegance, an accumulation 
of nutriment is secured at the surface, which, when the turf is broken and turned over, is 
of the highest importance in the growth of many cultivated vegetables. It is a storehouse 
of nutriment, which may have been accumulating many years. This grassy surface again 
exerts an important influence upon the temperature, maintaining a more uniform state 
and condition, and preventing wide fluctuations. So we ought to remember that turf 
contributes largely to the stability of the earth’s surface : rains and currents cease com¬ 
paratively to wash and abrade or furrow the ground, and convenience is thereby secured ; 
for what can a farmer do with a surface deeply channelled 1 
If we take a right view of the subject, we shall not probably form too high an estimate 
of the functions which the grasses perform in the economy of nature. We generally think 
of them as fodder for cattle, and in this light they are of the utmost importance; but we 
have seen that this is only a small item in the good they do, and in the services they per¬ 
form. Though humble in their appearance and pretensions, they serve man’s purpose in 
the turf, in the temperature, and in the stability and permanence of the earth’s surface. 
To be impressed deeply with these facts, we have only to witness the moving sands of the 
seashore, or of a desert. 
Grasses, when frequently cut or mown, become by the operation much finer than natural 
in their texture : it is in this way that a smooth velvety lawn is formed, which possesses 
so much beauty in parks. This fine grass, however, is not a very valuable fodder : it is 
fit only for the smaller and more tender herbivora, as lambs, calves, etc. 
Grasses, though really as important as represented, are probably not the most profitable 
source of food for cattle. Many productions exceed the value of hay as fodder. Roots 
and grain, even though cultivated at an expense far greater than that which attends the 
cultivation and growth of timothy or red-top, still outrank them in profit and value. Still 
there is no substitute, in the long run, for grass and pasturage in the present arrange¬ 
ments : they will always form an important means of supporting our herds of cattle. 
The valuable grasses belong to several genera, in each of which there are several spe¬ 
cies. Among the most important is the Phleum, of which there are two species in New- 
York ; one of which, the pratensis, is the common timothy grass, known in New-England 
under the name of foxtail . 
