REPORT OF THE BOTANIST ON GRASSES.

SIR: We present herewith, in continuation of the work commenced last year, descriptions and figures of some twenty-five additional species of native or naturalized grasses, most of which are known to be more or less valuable for forage or hay. A few that are known to be of little or no agricultural value are introduced in order that they may be recognized, as it is sometimes important to know the appearance of weeds and pests, in order that they may be treated accordingly.

It is not to be supposed that all the grasses here described will be generally adapted to cultivation. Our country presents such a diversity of climate and soil that certain grasses, which have an established reputation and are of primary value in one section of the country, will not meet with the conditions favorable to their growth in another section; and there are some species which would be considered very inferior or worthless in one section, which are known to be of great value in others.

The descriptions and figures will enable persons interested to recognize our native grasses, and the chemical analysis will determine their composition and relative nutritive value.

The chemical analysis of the grasses described below will be found at page 105 of this report.

PANICUM ANCEPS-Flat-stemmed Panic-grass.

This is a perennial grass, growing rather sparsely in moist sandy or clay soil. It has a flattish, erect stem, growing 2 to 3 feet high, with smooth leaves, one foot or more long, of a bluish-green color, and mostly near the base of the stem. The panicle is usually a foot long, with short branches near the top, the lower ones 3 to 6 inches long, more distant, and nearly erect, or somewhat spreading. Sometimes there are several lateral panicles from the upper joints of the culm. The rhizoma is thick, scaly, and creeping near the surface of the ground.

The spikelets are lanceolate, a little curved and sessile, or with short pedicels. Each spikelet consists of one perfect and one neutral flower, and two glumes, the lower of which is only half as long as the strongly 5 to 7 nerved upper one. The lower palet of the sterile flower is as long as the upper glume and much like it in texture, while its inner palet is thin, obtuse, and nearly half shorter. The perfect flower, as in most species of Panicum, is thick and hard in texture, one-third shorter than the upper glume, oblong, and consisting of two smooth palets, the outer one inclosing the inner, which again incloses the flowering organs.

This cannot be considered a valuable grass, but it frequently occurs in neglected and poor land in suflicient quantity to afford considerable grazing for stock. It makes its growth late in the season, usually reaching the flowering stage in August.

Mr. Mohr, of Mobile, remarks that it is not much relished by stock, being rather harsh and dry. (See Plate I.)

PANICUM AGROSTOIDES.

This is very much like the preceding species, but of a much larger and more vigorous growth, developing flower panicles from several of the joints as well as at the apex. These panicles are more densely flowered than those of P. anceps. The spikelets are somewhat smaller

and narrower, and the lower glume is longer and more pointed. The perfect flower is said to be bearded at the apex, but this will be observed only with the aid of a good magnifier, and I find P. Anceps not to differ in this respect. The panicle usually has a reddish color, and somewhat resembles that of Red-top (Agrostis vulgaris), hence the specific name.

This grass grows commonly in large clumps in wet meadows, or on the muddy margins of. rivers and lakes. It grows from four to six feet high, and produces a large amount of foliage which makes fair hay if cut before flowering time; if left later it contains too many wiry stalks. (See Plate II.)

PANICUM PROLIFERUM-Crab grass, Sprouting Crab grass.

This is an annual species growing usually in low, moist ground, and also in cultivated fields, especially in corn-fields, appearing and accomplishing most of its growth late in the season. The stems are seldom erect except in small or young specimens; in thrifty plants the stems become decumbent, spreading widely and rooting at many of the lower joints. The stems are usually only two or three feet long, but we have specimens from Mr. S. Corley, of Lexington, S. C., that are seven feet long. The culms are thick and juicy, and generally flattened and bent at the joints, especially below. The leaves are 8 inches to 2 feet long, and half an inch or more wide.

The whole plant is smooth, except some roughness about the branches of the panicle. The lower joints give out numerous branches which develop flowering panicles that are partly inclosed in the large leaf sheaths. These panicles vary in size from a few inches to 2 feet in length. Large specimens have a very diffuse and handsome appearance. The spikelets are pale green, rarely purplish, about 1 line long, and formed of the perfect flower, a neutral flower, which sometimes has one and sometimes two palets, and the two glumes. The neutral flower is a little longer than the perfect one; the lower glume broad and short, the upper acute and strongly 7-nerved.

This grass has a very wide range, being found in the Northern and Western as well as in the Southern States, growing abundantly in low waste grounds, as also, late in the season, in cultivated grounds. Mr. Charles Mohr, of Mobile, says of it:

In damp, grassy places it prefers rich ground, throughout the coast region. It commences to vegetate vigorously in the hottest part of the summer mouths, throwing out numerous shoots from the joints, forming large branched bushes. The foliage is rich and tender, and the succulent, rather thick, stems are sweet and juicy. After cutting, it throws out numerous sprouts from the lower joints, which grow rapidly so as to allow repeated enttings until frost. It is, through all stages of its growth, much relished by horses and cattle. (See Plate III.)

PANICUM CAPILLARE-Witch grass.

This is an annual grass, varying in height from 6 inches to 2 feet. It has a large terminal panicle which, when mature, is very diffuse, with long capillary branches. The leaves and sheaths are usually covered with long spreading hairs. It is very common in cultivated grounds, making its growth late in the summer, and after maturity the tops frequently break off and are blown about, and often accumulate in quantities in fence-corners. It is mostly rejected by cattle, especially the very hairy forms. There is a smoothish form growing in Texas and the

Western Territories, which will probably be more valuable. We give a figure of it chiefly for comparison, so that it may not be mistaken for a more valuable species. (See Plate IV.)

PANICUM GIBBUM.

This is a peremial species, growing in swamps and low wet ground in the Southern States from North Carolina to Florida. The stem is decumbent, branching and rooting at the lower joints. The panicle is 3 to 5 inches long, and narrow from the erect, appressed branches. The spikelets are oblong or lance-oblong, rather obtuse, although narrowed above. The upper glume is strongly 11-nerved, swollen at the base, and twice as long as the smooth fertile flower. The lower glume is small, about one-fourth the length of the upper one. The leaves are smooth, or rarely somewhat hairy, one-half inch broad and 6 to 8 inches long. The whole plant is of a deep-green color. The lowers drop off soon after flowering.

This grass, if occurring in abundance, would be of considerable value, as it furnishes a good deal of nutritious matter. (See Plate V.)

PANICUM DIVARICATUM-Cane-like Panic grass.

This is a tropical and subtropical species, found in our country only in Florida and the Gulf States, near the coast. It is a shrubby plant, the culms being woody and persistent, like a small kind of cane. Of course only the young shoots and leaves can be eaten by cattle. In the districts where it grows it may be utilized, as an analysis of its composition gives a very good result. The larger stems are of the size of a goose-quill. It is smooth and decumbent, with short spreading

branches.

The leaves are lanceolate, 2 to 3 inches long by 4 to 5 lines wide, gradnally pointed. The panicles terminate the branches, are 2 to 4 inches long, with comparatively short divergent branches and few flowers. The spikelets are obovate and swollen, about 2 lines long and smooth, except a very minute cottony tuft at the apex. (See Plate VI.)

ANDROPOGON MACROURUS-Heavy-topped Broom grass.

We present a figure of another of the species of Andropogon, Broom grass or Broom sedge, the Andropogon macrourus. It is very frequent on low sandy ground, near the coast, from New Jersey to Florida, and thence westward to Texas. It has a stout culm 2 to 3 or even 4 and 5 feet high, "bushy branched at the summit, loaded with very numerous spikes forming thick leafy clusters." The fertile flower has a capillary awn 3 or 4 times the length of the glume, and the sterile flower, which is usually present in the genus, is in this species reduced to a slender plumose pedicel.

None of the species of Broom grass are to be recommended for cultivation. The analyses show their relative value, and how much may be expected from their utilization on lands where they occur. (See Plate VII.)

TRITICUM REPENS-Couch grass, Quack grass.

There has been a good deal of discussion relative to this grass, some pronouncing it one of the vilest of weeds, and others claiming for it high

nutritive qualities overweighing all the disadvantages of its growth. Whichever party may be right, it is proper that farmers should be acquainted with it in order to know how to treat it, and hence our figure and description. It forms a dense sod by means of its far-reaching creeping rhizomas or rootstalks, which have short joints, and root tenaciously at every joint.

It has an abundance of foliage, and sends up a flowering culm, 2 to 3 feet high, which is terminated by a close, narrow spike of flowers from 3 to 6 inches long. This spike consists of a succession of closely set spikelets, one at each joint of the rachis, and placed flatwise with the side against the stalk. Each spikelet contains several (3 to 8) flowers, with a pair of nearly equal and opposite, 5 to 7 nerved glumes at the base. These glumes are usually acutely pointed and sometimes short awned. The lower palet of each flower is convex on the back and pointed or awned at the tip; the upper palet flattened and bristly fringed on the margins. There are many forms or varieties of this grass. In the Eastern States it is supposed to be introduced, but on the arid plains of the West it is undoubtedly indigenous, and in many places there it is the most common grass. In the typical form the leaves are flat, but in the Western varieties the leaves are frequently involute or rolled together in a cylindrical form.

Hon. J. S. Gould, in writing of this grass, says:

The farmers of the United States unite in one continuous howl of execration against this grass, and it seems strange, when every man's hand is against it, that it is not exterminated. Yet we could never really satisfy ourselves that its presence in meadows and pastures was such an unmitigated curse. In lands where alternate husbandry is practiced, it must be admitted to be an evil of great magnitude. Its hardiness is such, and its rapidity of growth is so great, that it springs up much more rapidly than any other crop that can be planted and chokes it. Still it has many virtues. It is perfectly cosmopolitan in its habits. It is found in all sorts of soils and climates. Its creeping roots are succulent, sweet, and very nutritive, and are greedily devoured by horses and cows.

Having the testimony, pro and con., every farmer must decide for himself as to the cultivation of this grass. Its very persistence and hardiness is greatly in its favor in cases where land is wanted for a permanent pasture.

Mr. Richard Gaines, of Colorado Springs, Colo., sent specimens of the Western form of the species, and says:

We think this is the best grass grown, superior to timothy or clover. We call it blue stem or blue joint; no richer hay can be made from anything known. (See plate VIII.)

BROMUS SECALINUS-Chess or Cheat.

We introduce this grass, not to recommend its cultivation, but to familiarize those interested with its appearance and characters. Many farmers know it well, as it occurs in their wheat fields. It is an old tradition, which some farmers still cling to, that chess is a degenerated wheat; that the action of frost and other causes occasion the deterioration, whereas the truth undoubtedly is that chess-seed was either in the land or in the seed sown, and being more hardy than wheat it survived the frost and took possession of the ground. Some years ago this grass had a temporary popularity under the name of Willard's Brome grass, but it was soon abandoned when brought into competition with better grasses.

It has a stout upright culm, 2 to 3 feet high, the panicle being from 4 to 6 inches long, rather spreading, and the large spikelets somewhat

drooping when ripe. Usually there are 3 to 5 branches at each joint of the panicle; these branches are of different lengths, from inch to 2 inches, and each with 1 to 3 large spikelets. The spikelets are usually from 5 to 10 flowered; the glumes unequal, nerved, shorter than the flowers; the lower palet is convex or compressed, keeled on the back, with an awn variable in length from below the point. In the South it would perhaps be a good winter grass, like its relative Bromus unioloides, but it is not as vigorous a grass as that species and does not produce such an abundance of foliage. (See Plate IX.)

ELYMUS CANADENSIS-Large Wild rye, Lyme grass.

A perennial coarse grass, growing on river banks and in rich shaded woods. Culms 2 to 4 feet high, leafy, terminated by a cylindrical loose spike 4 to 8 inches long, with the spikelets placed at intervals of about half an inch on the rachis. The spikelets are mostly in pairs at each joint, each composed of from 3 to 5 flowers. The glumes are narrow, strongly nerved, and tapering to an awn which is rather shorter than the awn of the flowers proper. The lower palet of each flower is thick in texture, narrow, and extending into a long, somewhat curved awn or beard, the palet with the awn being an inch or more in length. The upper palet is thinner in texture, obtuse, and not awned, fringed with short hairs on the margin. The spike is usually drooping at the top, and rather graceful in appearance. The leaves are broad and rough, the lower ones 9 to 12 inches long.

In some localities this is common in low meadows, and is cut with other native grasses for hay. If left until maturity it becomes too coarse to be of much value. In some portions of the Southern States this grass is known as Terrell grass, from having been prominently brought to notice by Dr. Terrell, of Sparta, Ga. Mr. C. W. Howard writes concerning it as follows:

This grass will live on thin land, but the soil, to make it valuable, must be richthe richer the better. It lasts for years. I have known it to occupy and flourish on the same spot for twenty years. Horses, sheep, and cattle are very fond of it during the winter and spring; hogs reject it. Orchard, blue, or meadow-oat grass are either of them preferable to it where they thrive. Whatever doubt there may be of their thriving in a given locality, there can be no doubt of the thrift of the Terrell grass in any part of the South, however hot it may be, if the soil be made rich. The planter living in the flat and somewhat sandy portions of the South who says he cannot get a good winter pasture has certainly never tried the Terrell grass on rich land. (See Plate X.)

FESTUCA PRATENSIS-Meadow Fescue grass.

This, although not a native species, has been introduced with foreign seeds, and is now frequently met with in good meadows, particularly in the Eastern States. It is a perennial grass, varying from 2 to 4 feet in height. The leaves are flat and rather broad, and about 1 foot long. The panicle is generally branched, erect and narrow, from 6 inches to nearly 1 foot long. The spikelets are lanceolate, about half an inch long, and consisting of from 5 to 10 flowers. The glumes are unequal, the inner one largest, and somewhat 3 nerved; the outer one shorter, and nerveless. The outer palets are firm in texture, scarious at the edge, 5 nerved, acute, and sometimes with a short, but distinct, awn at the apex.

This is one of the standard meadow grasses in Europe. Cattle are said to be very fond of it, both green and as hay. It is deserving of more extensive cultivation in moist meadows. By some botanists this