REPORT OP THE BOTANIST. 71 



agriculture of the country. In connection with this subject several 

 special reports on our native grasses have been published by the De- 

 partment and distributed among farmers and others. The principal 

 of these reports, called the ' 'Agricultural Grasses of the United States, 

 with their chemical composition," is a pamphlet of 144 pages, with 

 120 full-page plates. 



Another, entitled a "Descriptive Catalogue of the Grasses of the 

 United States," containing 110 pages, was published in connection 

 with the grass display at the New Orleans Exposition. 



Recently a special bulletin, or report of an investigation of the 

 grasses of the arid districts of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, has 

 been issued. 



There is yet urgent need for investigation of our native grasses, 

 particularly in the line of thorough and protracted experiments, to 

 determine their productiveness and adaptation to peculiar climatic 

 conditions. 



In a country so extensive as ours, embracing such a variety of soil, 

 surface, and climate, it cannot be expected that any one kind of grass 

 will be adapted to cultivation in all situations. But private experi- 

 ments of the kind needed are attended with much expense, and very 

 few persons have the means or the .time to prosecute them. But it is 

 in the power of the Government to conduct investigations which will 

 probably result in greatly extending our agricultural resources and 

 contribute to the hai^piness and wealth of the people. Particularly 

 in the arid regions of the West new kinds of grasses are needed, 

 adapted to the peculiar conditions there existing. 



We present here, from a mass of correspondence, extracts to illus- 

 trate the nature of the inquiries which are constantly received by this 

 Department, 



A correspondent writes from Alabama as follows : 



I find in this vicinity a grass gi'owing about residences and along roadsides, in 

 bunches and patches, the value of which I would like to learn ruore about. From 

 the places where I find it it would seem to be an important grass just getting a start in 

 our lands. It grows well under trees, and in the shade equally as well as in the 

 open gi-ound, and, owing to the number and strength of its roots, it grows in hard 

 and dry grounds. I find it green now, after an unusually long drought, when almost 

 all other grasses are burned up. Its rooting capacity is very great; a man can only 

 pull up a small bundle with his hands. I wish to know what is the name of the 

 grass, and its probable value as a graziag gi-ass. 



The grass referred to was the Sporobolus Indicus, described on 

 page 50 of the "Agricultural Grasses of the United States," and fig- 

 ured on plate 50. It deserves attention from Southern farmers. 



From Texas comes the following : 



I send you herewith a package of grass for which I have no name. This grass I 

 consider the most valuable of all the grasses that I am acquainted with. It is per- 

 ennial and grows here all the year round, furnishing excellent green feed for stock 

 at all seasons of the year, except that the green blades freeze in our very coldest 

 weather, perhaps two or three times a winter, and then they grow out again m a 

 few days. It increases rapidly from seeds, and also reproduces itself from suckers, 

 which sprout from the nodes of the culm after the first crop of seeds ripens. I have 

 seen these suckers remain green six or eight weeks after the old stalk was as dead 

 and dry as any hay, and then they take root and form new plants. It grows well in 

 all kinds of dry land. The plants from roots from one to two or tlxree years old form 

 large stools from 13 to 18 inches across and have very strong roots, and gi-owin the 

 longest drought almost as fast as when it rains. I am anxious to prove wliich are 

 the most valuable grasses for cultivation, because I am confident that they are des- 

 tined to become one of our most profitable crojis. 



The grass mentioned was Paspalum dilatatum, which is highly 



