MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



r. I i 



B. P. r.— 29. 



I.-THE SEEDS OF RESCUE GRASS AND CHESS/' 



By F. II. I Iii.i.m an. Assistant, Seed Laboratory, Botanical Investigations and Experiments 





There bave recently been received al the Seed Laboratory from 

 different States of the South several samples of the seed of chess, or 



cheat (Bromus secalinus), which had I a offered for sale as rescue 



grass (Bromus unioloides). Notwithstanding the close botanical rela- 

 tionship of chess to rescue grass, and the fact that the former is some- 

 times, like the latter, employed as a hay crop, the difference between 

 the two is so considerable that, if the seeds of both are to he handled 

 in the trade, they should pass under their true names. 



The brome grasses belong to the genus Bromus and vary widely 

 in their agricultural value. One of them, the awnless brome grass 

 (Bromus inermis), also called smooth and Hungarian brome grass, is 

 highly valued in the West as a drought-resisting forage and hay plant. 

 Rescue grass bears a somewhat similar relation to the agriculture of 

 the South, while the chess is less valuable than either. Some value 

 is assigned to it in certain localities, but it has been long and widely 

 recognized as a most troublesome weed. The frequency with which 

 it occurs in grain fields has led to the erroneous belief, adhered to by 

 many farmers even to the present day. that chess is a degenerated 

 form of wheat. Chess seeds are often abundant among the seeds of 

 the cereal grains and the larger grass seeds, and sometimes occur with 

 red clover seed. 



With the aid of specimens, or descriptions, there should be no dif- 

 ficulty in distinguishing the seed of rescue grass from that of chess. 

 The differences between the seed of chess and that of its near ally, 

 Bromus refcemosus, are more difficult to detect; but from a practical 



a For some reason confusion has arisen in the Southern States regarding rescue 

 grass and chess. Seed of the latter, which, though occasionally grown as a forage 

 crop is ordinarily a grain-field weed, has been offered for sale repeatedly under the 

 name of the former, which is a valuable forage grass; and it has been thought desir- 

 able to issue a brief description of the two, so that both seedsmen and purchasers 

 may be able to distinguish them. The present paper is therefore presented It was 

 prepared under the direction of Mr. A. J. Pieters, Botanist in Charge oi the Seed 

 Laboratory.— Frederick V. Coville, Botanist. 



