. Agriculture; a text for the school and the farm . to maintain thefertility of the soil. It is necessary therefore to select suchplants for the meadow as will serve both of these is possible with our wide range of grasses and legumesfrom which to choose. Meadow plants should possess the following qualities:(1) yield well; (2) be palatable; (3) tend to improve thesoil; (4) grow strong and thick enough to keep down theweeds; (5) produce an even firm sod free from high tuftsor bunches. The surface of the meadow should be smooth and freefrom obstructions that will interfere with the har
. Agriculture; a text for the school and the farm . to maintain thefertility of the soil. It is necessary therefore to select suchplants for the meadow as will serve both of these is possible with our wide range of grasses and legumesfrom which to choose. Meadow plants should possess the following qualities:(1) yield well; (2) be palatable; (3) tend to improve thesoil; (4) grow strong and thick enough to keep down theweeds; (5) produce an even firm sod free from high tuftsor bunches. The surface of the meadow should be smooth and freefrom obstructions that will interfere with the harvesting ofthe hay crop. 154 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 155 Meadow grasses and legumes.—Most of our meadowsare mixtures of grasses, or of grasses with legumes. Al-falfa seems to thrive best alone, but most meadow plantsgrow well in company with some other variety. Red orcrimson clover and timothy, for example, are commonlyfound growing together. Several advantages come from planting mixed meadows:the different plants draw their nourishment from various. Two profitable weisteru industries—dairying and truit-iaisiug(Wasliiugton). depths of the soil, thus using its full strength more com-pletely and increasing the yield of hay; mixtures accommo-date themselves to peculiarities of seasons, sometimes onegrass and sometimes another thriving better; mixed forageprovides variety for stock, making the feed more palatableand affording a wider range of food elements. When hay is raised for market instead of being fed onthe farm, however, it is often best to devote the meadowto one plant alone, thus producing what is called a pure 156 AGRICULTURE hay. Timothy is the favorite meadow grass for pure hay,and leads the market in all the great hay-buying working horses, timothy is thought by many to be su-perior to clover or to mixed forage. Pure red clover oralfalfa is often desired for fattening stock. Meadow mixtures.—The mixture to be used in seed-ing a meadow will depend on the c
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