10 



species, or the native ragweeds and verbeuas spread and occupy the 

 soil. All of these have become so plentiful that farmers remark ou 

 their more frequent occurrence now than in former years. Several 

 rank-growing weeds are abundant in meadows and pastures of western 

 Iowa. Sunllower and ]\Iarsh Elder find in the rich alluvial soil of the 

 river bottoms a most congenial place for their development. They are 

 especially troublesome on land that is often flooded during spring 

 freshets. It may be that farmers of this region who rely chieHy on 

 the hay crop will be obliged to introduce better turf-forming grasses, 

 such as can resist the inroads of these weeds. From what I have seen 

 of Blue-grass in this region it may prove a good grass for this purpose 

 and Hungarian Brome {Bromus inermiii) may prove to be of even greater 

 value. Snow-on-the-Mountain {EuphorUa marginata), a well-known 

 ornamental plant, is a serious pest in western and northwestern Iowa. 

 Golden Bods are often troublesome in pastures, especially SolUhu/o 

 canadensis and 8. rifiida. Stock will not eat them unless forced to do 

 so, and when once well established in the pasture they are very difficult 

 to eradicate. 



NEBllA.SKA. 



THE FORAOK PUOBLEM. 



The forage problem of Nebraska is one of peculiar interest. A great 

 variety of native species occur because of the diversified climate and 

 soils of the State. Observations were made in the vicinity of Omaha 

 and thence southwest to Lincoln, Crete, Hastings, and McCook to the 

 Colorado line. The rich, fertile bottoms along the Missouri, the rolling 

 prairie west of Omaha, the fertile valleys of the Platte, Salt, and P.lue 

 rivers, the salt marshes in the vicinity of Lincoln, the vast stretch of 

 level prairie about Hastings, the flood plain of the Bepublican Biver, 

 with the rolling clay hills that rise from this valley, the narrow canyons, 

 and the sand hills in the western part of the State are striking illus- 

 trations of the varied features of this region. Grazing is now, and 

 ever will be, an important industry in the western half of the State. 

 Although the grasses may not grow so luxuriantly season after season 

 in Nebraska as in Iowa, the climate is more favorable for winter graz- 

 ing than in the latter State, and there is a large number of valuable 

 species of native forage plants. 



NATIVE GRASSES. 



It will not be necessary to discuss the forage plants of eastern Nebraska, 

 as the conditions are similar to those in Western Iowa, and the forego- 

 ing remarks will apply to this region. 



In the central and western parts of the State the farmer relies chiefly 

 on the native forage plants. I was unable to 11 nd a single introduced 

 grass snperior to Grama-grass, Wild Wheat, Turkey-foot, I'.ig P.hie- 

 Stem, and i'.nffalo- grass. 1 was strongly imi)ressed with the fact that 

 the grasses best adapted to this climate are the native species. In 



