CHAPTER VII 
GROWING GRASSES FOR HAY AND PASTURE 
TrRUE grasses and legumes are the two main families of plants 
used for hay and pasture. In the preceding chapter several annual 
members of the grass family are discussed. Many of those are 
used for both grain and forage. 
For pasture and hay perennial grasses are much more important 
than annual grasses. A true perennial grass is one which lives 
from year to year whether seeds be formed or not. It may, if 
allowed to do so, produce seed each year. 
Pastures are of two main types, temporary and permanent. A 
pasture may be temporary (1) because it has temporary or annual 
crops in it; (2) because the farmer wishes to use the crop only 
temporarily for pasturing livestock and then use it for some other 
purpose ; thus winter grains are pastured for a few weeks and then 
saved for grain. If alfalfa or clover or timothy be pastured for 
a few weeks in early spring and then reserved for a hay crop, it is 
a temporary pasture, although the crop is rather permanent. 
Permanent pastures are those which are fenced and seeded with 
long-lived perennial crops which will endure pasturing well. The 
crops in permanent pastures are made to endure the treatment 
better in several ways: (1) By reseeding thin or bare spots; (2) 
by harrowing when ground tends to crust or bake; (3) by mowing 
the weeds and preventing them from seeding; (4) by top dressing 
with lime and commercial fertilizers; (5) by not pasturing too 
closely nor too early in the spring; (6) by removal of livestock 
when the soil is muddy. 
Grasses for Permanent Pastures.—As permanent pastures are 
usually located on some part of the farm not best suited to the 
production of cultivated crops, it is necessary to select pasture 
grasses which are adapted naturally to the particular kinds of soil 
and other conditions. Such places are low, wet lands, wood lots, 
stumpy fields, rocky fields, poor uplands, steep hillsides, and com- 
binations of aay of these. This wide range of conditions calls for 
a wide range of adaptability of pasture plants to fill them. 
Some qualities of a good pasture grass are given: (1) Living 
for many years; (2) forming an even sod, not in bunches; (3) 
enduring drouth well; (4) shallow rooted to endure poor drainage ; 
(5) endure tramping of livestock; (6) beginning growth early in 
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