CULTIVABL,E FORAGE CROPS. 



19 



digestion experiments, their comi^arison with the analyses of stand- 

 ard grasses furnishes some measure of their vahie. 



Analyses of Alaskan grasses (air-dried sa))ii)Jes taken irhen in flower). 



Species 



Ciihiiiiacirnxfis langsdorfii (Bluetop) ... 



Care.r cryptoiarpa (S^dge) 



Elt/mus mollis (Beach rye) 



Phleiim pratense (Timothy) 



Piia pratensis (Bhiegrass) 



Desrhampsia bottnica (Silver-top) 



Calamagrostis aleuticu 



Ash. 



Per cent. 

 3.90 

 10.65 

 7. .51 

 4. .58 

 5.22 

 4.15 

 4.52 



Analyses of standard grasses for comparison. 



Species. 



Port pratensis (Bluegrass) 



A<jrostis alba (Redtop) 



Phh'iun pratense (Timothy) 



Dacti/lis glomerata (Orchard grass) 

 Deschampsia cwspitosa (Silver-top). 

 Calamagrostis canadensis (Bluejoint) . 



Ash. 



Per cent. 

 7.35 

 5.90 

 4.48 

 5.42 

 9.37 

 5.49 



The anal3'ses of the Ahiskan grasses were all made by the Bureau 

 of Chemistry of the Department of Argiculture, and with the excep- 

 tion of the first three, from material collected in 1904, were originally 

 published in Bulletin No. 48, Office of Experiment Stations. The 

 other analyses have been compiled from various authorities. 



CULTIVABLE FORAGE CROPS. 



The experiences of a number of individual investigators, as well as 

 the tests made at the Sitka and Kenai experiment stations, throw a 

 good deal of light on the possibility of growing fodder plants and 

 forage crops on cultivated land. Much more testing is necessary, 

 however, before some of the conclusions which at present seem prob- 

 able can be considered demonstrated. 



In the way of grasses the tests made at Sitka by Professor George- 

 son on muck soils showed tall meadow oat-grass to be the most prom- 

 ising. Tall fescue, bluegrass, meadow foxtail, and redtop did fairly 

 well, wdiile orchard grass, timothy, and Italian rye-grass were not 

 promising. From observations on a number of these and other 

 grasses introduced by chance, some rather definite conclusions may 

 be drawn. Timothy is more or less abundantly introduced at various 

 places on the coast, but does not as a rule thrive very well, being often 

 inferior in size to the native mountain timothv. It is altogether 



