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grows along- with sucli grasses as grama and other prairie species. 

 Meadows of considerable extent occur between Crete and Hastings, 

 Kebr. It is quite a novelty to see hundreds of acres with the con- 

 spicuous blue-green color of this grass. It is common in the 

 foothills in central and northern Colorado, and about Golden and 

 Colorado Springs. It is not uncommon in open places at an alti- 

 tude of 7,000 feet, but is much more abundant at 5,000 and G,000 

 feet. 



Cord-grass {SparUna cijnomroides Willd.) (fig. 5) is abundant in low 

 grounds, and is an important feature of the meadows in western 

 Iowa along the Missouri. It is well suited for the alluvial soils of 

 this region, and can endure standing water better than Big Blue- 

 Stem. Nature has adapted Cord-grass to low and swampy places. 

 The reserve material stored in the root stocks enables it to grow 

 rapidly when the water has receded. Many farmers hold this grass 

 in high esteem. One farmer informed me that it was more valu- 

 able than Big Blue Stem. For the Missouri River region it is a 

 most profitable grass. In Nebraska it is common in low grounds 

 from Omaha to McCook. It is of little value as a pasture grass, 

 and is commonly cut for early hay. 



Couch-grass {Agropyron repens Beauv.) is naturalized in many places 

 in Iowa, and is often cut for hay. It starts early in the spring and 

 produces a large number of fine leaves. In frequent rotations it 

 is a pest rather than a valuable forage plant. In soils much sub- 

 ject to wash it has proved of value as a soil binder. It occurs as 

 an introduced plant in Nebraska about Omaha and at McCook, but 

 is much inferior to its western relative. 



Crab-grass {Panicum fianguinale L.) is abundant throughout Iowa in 

 cultivated fields and open places in blue-grass pastures. Usually 

 regarded as a weed, but may afford some picking in cornfields after 

 corn is removed. Under such conditions, however, the forage is of 

 poor quality. 



Do"wny Oat-grass {THsctum suhspicatum) is abundant in Colorado in 

 dry open woods and open jilaces. It is one of the first grasses to 

 appear after fires have swept the forests. 



Early Bunch-grass {Eatonia ohtusata) grows in rather moist prairies 

 throughout Nebraska. It matures early and produces only a small 

 quantity of leaf and stem, and hence is not as important a factor 

 in the production of either hay or green forage as is Prairie June- 

 grass. 



Feather Bunch-grass (Stipa riridula Trin.), although not indigenous 

 to central Iowa, has been found spontaneous along the railroad 

 west of Ames. It grows in bunches, seeds freely, and is much 

 more i^alatable than Porcupine-grass. It might be introduced with 

 advantage on the loess soils of western Iowa. In Nebraska it was 

 observed in considerable <iuantity on the second bottom along the 



