SECRETARY'S REPORT. 93 



Quitch Grass, &c. — This is one of the most catholic of all grasses, 

 in its tastes and habits, in so much that scarcely a garden or field, 

 pasture or roadside can be found, be the soil what it may, -which is 

 not occupied by it to greater or less extent : and if permitted, its 

 long creeping roots — or more properly, rhizomes, (underground 

 stems,) — pushing in every direction, will soon have full possession, 

 and monopolize all the plant food within its reach. It is commonly 

 regarded as a troublesome pest, from the difficulty of eradicating it, 

 and the injury it does by choking other plants. Cattle eat it readily 

 enough, either as grass or hay, and on loose sands its roots are use- 

 ful in binding the surface. Detested as it usually is, some farmers 

 advocate its culture for hay. One told me not long since, that he 

 would be glad to sow ten bushels of the seed on his farm. Another 

 writes me : " Its value for dry forage, I consider equal to either 

 Herdsgrass, Redtop or Clover. I do not sow the seed because it is 

 unnecesary, my farm having been Avell sto'cked with it when I pur- 

 chased ; but had it not been so, I do not hesitate to declare, that 

 with my present knowledge of its value, I should labor diligently to 

 introduce it." 



Viewed simply as a grass for hay, the principal objection to it is 

 that it gives but a moderate crop at the best, standing very thin ; 

 and if the soil be rich, it lodges and turns yellow, before fully 

 grown ; besides, it rapidly exhausts the soil, and also checks the 

 growth of better grasses, by what is called ' binding out.' 



Pludaris arimdinacea — Reed Canary Grass. — This fine looking, 

 deep green grass, frequently arrests attention by its luxuriant 

 growth and promising appearance, but is of little or no agricultural 

 value, except as indicating by its presence, the need of .draining ; 

 and where such land is properly drained, it dies out. The liability 

 of this grass to become filled with ergot, if it stands beyond the time 

 of flowering, is sufficient to condemn it, were its nutritive properties 

 far greater than they are. A variety of this grass with white stripes 

 in the leaves, known as Ribbon grass, is sometimes cultivated as an 

 ornamental plant. This peculiarity it loses however upon being 

 transferred to wet situations. 



Anitnophila arujidinacea — Beach Grass — Mat Grass — Sea Sand 

 Reed. — This is remarkable for its creeping root, or, more properly, 

 rhizome, which is sometimes twenty to thirty feet in length. It is 



