12!» 



000 acres, one-third of which area is devoted to highway pastures. West 

 of Nashville in the counties of Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman, Hum- 

 phreys, Lewis, Wayne, Perry, Houston and Stewart, not over one-fifth 

 of the land is in cultivation. Out of the 2,099,520 acres embraced in these 

 counties only 481,456 were returned by the census of 1890 as improved 

 lands. The remainder was in woodlands and natural pastures. 



The highway pastures in West Tennessee are not so extensive as they 

 are in the other two grand divisions of the State. These pastures are con- 

 fined mainly to the Mississippi bottoms where a dense growth of cane 

 keeps a large number of cattle throughout the year. 



The wild grasses and legumes that are found in the highway pastures 

 of Tennessee are numerous. The most valuable ones with their habitat 

 are the following: 



Barnyard Grass— Paniciim crus-galli. 



GRASSES IN HIGHWAY PASTURES. 



Andropogons (heard grasses). — There are several species of these 

 grasses. Among others may be named: Andropogon scoparius, Andro- 

 pogon provincialis. Andropogon argyraeus, Andropogon macrourus, and 

 Andropogon V'irginicus. 



Andropogon scoparius (mountain sedge) has long been known in the 

 mountains of East Tennessee. By some it has been confounded with the 

 Andropogon Virginicus. It is a good pasture grass when young and 

 tender, but when it shoots up its culms it becomes hard and indigestible. 

 It is not general over the State. 



Andropogon provincialis, var. furcatus, Tennesseensis and others, 

 (big blue stem) though growing taller and stouter than the Andropogon 

 Virginicus. does not so readily take possession of old fields and meadows 

 but prefers open woods and retired nooks and dry soils. The stems are 



