VELVET GRASS AND CLOVERS. 28 



where it is native. In recent 3'ears it has been tried in many parts of 

 the United States with varyinjr degrees of success. It has proven 

 most successful in the semiarid regions of the Northwest from Kansas 

 and North Dalvota to Washington. It is especially adapted for those 

 regions where the rainfall is insufficient to grow forage crops without 

 irrigation and yet the conditions do not approach the aridity of the 

 desert. Such regions are found in the eastern part of the (ireat Plains, 

 plateaus in the Rocky Mountains, and the Palouse region of eastern 

 Washington. 



The seed may be sown broadcast in the spring, at the rate of about 

 20 pounds to the acre. The stand is usually thin the first year, l)ut 

 the second year it thickens up and forms a sod. In localities Avhere 

 winter wheat can be grown, brome grass can be sown in the fall. It 

 is valuable for hay, ))ut more especially for i)asture. During mid- 

 summer the foliage dries up more or less, but gives good pasture in 

 early spring and late fall. The second year it yields large crops of 

 palatable hav, ))ut thereafter it is better adai)ted for psisture than for 

 ■hay. (See PI. VII, tig. 2.) 



Velvet Grass {HoIchs lanatus). 



This grass is common in the Pacific coast region along roadsides, in 

 abandoned fields and other waste places, and also is found encroaching 

 upon pasture land. It is a native of Europe, but has been introduced 

 into many parts of the United States. Opinions differ as to its useful- 

 ness, some stigmatizing it as a vile weed, others referring to it as a 

 valuable forage grass. It is not a very large yielder, but will thrive 

 on poor soil where more valuable grasses fail. Hence in localities 

 where the usual meadow and pasture grasses flourish the advent of 

 velvet grass should be looked upon with disfavor, but on more sterile 

 soil it furnishes a fair crop of forage where other grasses fail. It has 

 been said that '"" velvet grass is a good grass for poor land, and a poor 

 grass for good land." Velvet grass goes under the name of mesquite 

 in many parts of the Northwest, but this name is more frequently 

 applied to certain native grasses of the Southwest. 



On sandy soils along the coast and on peaty soils that dry out in 

 summer, velvet grass is perhaps the most profitable hay and pasture 

 grass, because the better grasses do not succeed. Stock usually refuse 

 to eat it at first until driven to do so by hunger, but the}^ will soon 

 acquire a taste for it. and it is exceedingl}" nutritious. Its worst faults 

 are its low yield and lack of palatability. 



Clovers. 



Red clover {Trifolium. pratense) is in common cultivation through- 

 out the northern portion of the Rocky Mountain and upper Pacific 

 coast regions and is rapidly coming into cultivation in the more moist 



