Forage Crops For The Colorado Plains 25 
is normally insufficient for hay. The Wheat Grasses, Bluestem, and 
Gramas are the most common native hay species. 
Native Pastures .—There are still many places on the Plains 
where there are large areas of native pasture. Where these native 
pastures are open range, little may be done to improve their carrying 
capacity. Where under fence and private control it is possible to 
very materially improve carrying capacity by letting part of the 
pasture rest while the other portion is grazed. 
vSome improvement may often be made by seeding in Sweet 
Clover. This is especially true of the sandier localities. 
In the high Divide country Brome Grass (Broinus inermis) does 
well. Here it may be seeded in the native pastures with a disk drill. 
Brome grass grown by Mr. Chas. Green, Leroy, Colorado 
The wet valleys in the sand hills often produce Brome quite well. Ex¬ 
cept under the conditions just mentioned, Brome Grass is very indif¬ 
ferently successful or a total failure. 
Tame Pastures .—Tame pastures are among the most serious 
and difficult problems of dry farming. 
No tame grass is ever successful. Brome and Orchard Grass may 
be grown in the few limit'^d sections above mentioned. But they are 
not generally adapted. Yet they are the best tame grasses with which 
experiments have thus far been conducted. 
For hog and horse pasture, alfalfa, in rows, may be used. 
Probably for those animals which may safely be pastured upon it, 
alfalfa will furnish more feed than any other permanent crop. 
Sweet Clover will make some pasture practically anywhere on 
the Plains, even under conditions too severe for alfalfa. 
It may be grazed with greater safety than alfalfa. But it is 
unsafe to graze Sweet Clover with either cattle or sheep when wet 
from dew or rain. 
