Stout—Vegetation of a Typical Wild Hay Meadow. 405 
A BIOLOGICAL AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE 
VEGETATION OF A TYPICAL WILD 
HAY MEADOW. 
A. B. Stout 
INTRODUCTION. 
Natural low lying meadows are important sources of wild 
hay supply over a considerable portion of tbe northern states. 
This is especially true of the region about the city of Madison, 
Wisconsin, where many acres of “'marsh hay,” “wild hay,” or 
“slough hay” lands are cut yearly. The vegetation of such 
habitats has been recognized by all students of plant geography 
and ecology as a more or less definitely characterized formation 
consisting largely of sedges and grasses. Little attention has 
been given to the detailed field study of this class of vegetation. 
The improvement and utilization of marsh lands is however re¬ 
ceiving more and more attention and this vegetation is destined 
to become an object of increased interest both from economic 
and scientific points of view. 
The hay cut from these marsh meadows varies in value in the 
local markets from four or five dollars to as high as eight or 
nine dollars per ton. The basis of distinction in value is doubt¬ 
less to be found in the varying ratio of grasses to sedges and the 
degree of coarseness of the latter. The grasses are regarded as 
having higher feeding value although little distinction is made 
between them and such grass-like sedges as Carex Sartwellii 
and Carex stricta. 
The earlier writers on plant geography noted that marsh 
meadows are typically northern in their geographical distribu- 
