36 



Small Cane (Arundinaria iccta). — Perennial; stems woody, branching above, from 

 a few inches to many feet in height; leaves numerous, lanceolate, somewhat rough 

 and hairy, remaining green until the second season. Seeds as large as grains of 

 barley, in panicles resembling those of rescue grass; maturing in February and 

 Manh. There is also a second species, A. viacroNperma, which sometimes reaches a 

 height of 40 feet. These canes are indigenous on alluvial lauds and along streams 

 throughout the whole Gulf region, reaching their greatest perfection on the low 

 lands near the Mississippi River and in Florida, where they often form extensive 

 "canebrakes" whose growth is so dense as to be almost impenetrable. It is too 

 woody to be cut for hay, but where it grows in sufficient abundance it makes valu- 

 able winter grazing, and thousands 

 of cattle are wintered without any 

 other feed . The seeds are produced 

 on slender canes from 1 to 3 feet tall, 

 but only at long intervals, and the 

 whole plant dies soon after the seed 

 is matured. Usually all the plants 

 in a localitj", which may be from a 

 few rods to many acres in extent, 

 produce seed the same season. Cat- 

 tle fatten rai>i<lly on the large, 

 starchy seeds, and the dying i)lants 

 are replaced by a new growth the 

 following season. Attempts to cul- 

 tivate the cane, either by seeding or 

 by ti'ansplanting roots, have not 

 been very successful, and as it grows 

 only on the richest soil its area is 

 rapidly decreasing with the opening 

 of new fields. 



Smooth Brome {Bromns iner- 

 mis). — Perennial, from extensively 

 creeping rootstocks. Stems un- 

 branched, erect, 2 to 3 feet high; 

 leaves abundant, long, smooth ; pan- 

 icles spreading when in flower, but 

 becoming close, with the branches 

 erect as it approaches nuiturity. 



Although this grass has been pop- 

 ular in Furopean pastures for more 

 than a hundred years it does not ap- 

 pear to have attracted attention in 

 the United States until about lifteeu 

 years ago, when it was highly rec- 

 ommended by the California cxperi- 

 mentstation. It wassion tested by 

 many of the stations in other parts 

 of the country, and nearly all of the earlier reports publishcil were strongly in its 

 favor. At all of the stations in the Gulf States it succeeded iincly , and was thought 

 to be of great value lor winter ])asture8. It grows well in cool w(!ather and bears 

 drought. Cattle gra/.e it with relish. In tlio South it is more valuable for pastiiie 

 than for hay, and does better on dry than on wet soils. Although its growth ou^the 

 trial plots was all that could be desired, its growth in the field has often been disap- 

 ]»ointiiig, and it is not gaining in geiu'.ral favor excepting in the Northwest. After 

 eight years of exp<'rience witli this grass on a great variety of soils it api)ears to bo 

 of doubtful value in the Gulf States. It has here some value for winter grazing on 

 dry and loose soils, but its place can be better filled with other species. 



0/ 

 Fic. lo.- 



-Side-oats Grama {Bouteloua curtipcndvla). 



