Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-05-14
Notes From our Agricultural College.
By Prof. W. A. Henry, Madison, Wis.


CONCERNING KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS.
Do Wisconsin farmers know and real
ize that what they commonly call
June grass" is the same plant that
IN Kentucky's boasted pastures goes
under the name of "blue grass?
When visiting Ashland, the Henry Clay
homestead, near Lexington, to study
its live stock, gave the closest atten-
ton to the sod grass of the pastures;
getting down on my knees | examined
the turf to compare it with that which
so freely covers Wisconsin pastures and
road sides, and was not able to discover
any superiority for the Kentucky
product, either in density of growth or
| in any other way. What we call "June
grass in Wisconsin is Identical, botani-
cally, with Kentucky blue grass, and
since it grows iust as freely here, why
should we not give it the more aristo-
cratic name? Would not every acre of
Wisconsin's pasture lands be worth
more in the minds of her farmers
at least, and would they not take more
pride in them ifthe carpet which covers
them so green today were called Ken
lucky blue grass instead Of plain "June
grass? Kentucky blue grass grows
everywhere in our state with a freedom
and tenacity which is simply surprising
1t is the only grass of this region which
forms sod so dense that it can be cut
and rolled up like carpet. Even the
severe droughts which some times
att1lct us cannot utterly destroy it, for
though it may be brown and look en-
tlrely dead, the first good rainfall works
a magical change and it green's almost
IN night time, and springs forward to
please the eye and nourish the cattle
with a rapidity and vigor which is
simply marvellous.
l wish particularly at this time to call
the attention of our farmers to the pc
culiar habits of growth of Kentucky
blue grass, and draw most important
lesson therefrom. All through Nav
and into June this grass grows rapidly |
and usually supplies more feed than the |
farmer has cattle to consume. So
luxurlant is the growth that often as
the farmer walks over his pastures
during the last half of May he is apt to
wish for more live stock to consume the |
over-abundant forage everywhere so
evident. A few weeks later, however, |
when he makes the same round, (and
what farmer does not enjoy these fire. |
quent tours of inspection over his |
domaln) he notes that the grass has |
almost ceased growing, so that by mid
summer the excess of the4 earlier date |
has been cropped off and the ground |
shows bare and even brown. Our blue |
grass plants are not dead nor even |
dying, but they have exhausted their |
energies and have entered a necessary
period of rest, which lasts all through |
the latter part of July, August and even |
into September. During this period |
comes hard times with the cattle, for |
now not only are the fields quite bare |
of proVender, but the sun is almost |
blistering hot and the blood-sucking in /
sects most annoying. The sheep seek |
the shade, holding their noses close to |
the earth, and frequently stamping to |
drive away the flies the fattening cattle |
and young things show no increase in
weight, and the dairy COWS scantily fed |
and much fretted shrink greatly in their |
milk flow. Our farmer, who only a few |
weeks before was wishing for more |
cattle to consume the extra growth of |
grass, now wishes he had larger areas of
pasture, and regretfully realizes that be
is losing money every day because his
stock are not properly fed. Along in
September with the cooler weather and
increased rainfall the blue grass and |
fields show their rich green again, the
food becomes more abundant and
normal conditions once more prevail.