THE BLUE GRASSES IN NEW YORK STATE 



O. W. Dynes, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Instructor in Farm Crops, New York State College of Agriculture 



Kentucky blue grass {Poa pratensis) and Canada blue grass 

 {Poa comp'essa) are among the most valuable grasses in New 

 York State. The first named has long been recognized as the 

 premier pasture and lawn grass of the northern United States. 

 Farmers in New York have been slow to recognize its value, partly 

 due to the fact that this grass does best in soils of high lime content 

 and many of the soils of this state are deficient in lime. How- 

 ever, it is safe to assume that very few localities in the state show 

 the absence of either of these blue grasses. The object of this 

 article is to point out their value to the farmers of the state, 

 together with some of their characteristics and easy methods of 

 identification. 



KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS 



Synonyms of Kentucky blue grass are blue grass, June grass, 

 green grass, spear grass, and smooth-stalked meadow grass. 



Description 



The culms are erect and from one to three feet in height. The 

 stems are round, smooth, finer than timothy or orchard grass, and 

 of a dark green color. The leaf sheath has a short, obtuse ligule 

 and the leaf has a round, concave tip. The inflorescence shows as 

 an open, spreading, pyramidal panicle with three- to five-flowered 

 spikelets. The rough outer glumes are shorter than the awnless 

 keeled lemma, and the rachilla is usually hairy or pubescent. 

 When fully headed, the panicle of Kentucky blue grass shows 

 varying shades of color from green to purple. The seed is firmly 

 enclosed in the lemma and palea and does not come free at the 

 time of threshing. 



A good pasture grass must be a turf-forming grass and should 

 be able to reproduce itself vegetatively as well as by its seed. The 



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