REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 75 



peculiarly poisonous about the grass. We are at a loss to account for 

 tliis circumstance except on the supposition that the cattle were turned 

 suddenly from, a poor pasture on to the luxuriant, succulent growtli of 

 Johnson grass, and that the amount eaten was greater than sui)po8i.i 

 and caused hoven, or that distending of the stomach from gas lornied by 

 fermentiug food, such as happens frequently when cattle eat too freely 

 of green clover. This opinion is confirmed by the fact that altiioiig!! 

 the grass has been cultivated in the South for forty or Ulty years, no 

 similar charges have been made against it. One th-ing seems settled by 

 this information, namely, that Johnson grass will endure a cold, noi-th- 

 ern climate, as in the cases mentioned the seed was sown the precediug 

 year, and the grass seems to have been uninjured by the frost. 



Another point would seem to be that the chief value of this grass is 

 as a hay-making grass, for which purpose it should be cut several times 

 during the season, and that grazing on it should be managed with cau- 

 tion. 



SAINT AUGUSTINE GRASS. 



From Mrs. J. A. Blanchard, Umatilla, Fla., we learn that SfoiotapJi- 

 rum americanum is called in that section Saint Augustine grass, prob- 

 ably from its common occurrence about that city, as it is elsewhere on 

 the' coast in Florida and in South Carolina. It seems to be planted for 

 a lawn grass. By dividing the stems and putting two or three in a 

 place, it soon makes a close, firm sod of coarse grass, which is green 

 through the year. Horses do not seem to like it. 



INDIAN MILLET. 



Under this name we have received from two or three sources in the 

 West one of the so-called bunch grasses, which is botanically called 

 Uriocoma cuspidata, and figured in the Annual Eeport for lSSl-'82. Mr. 

 William Lewmau, of Cannouville, Utah, says it is one of the most nutri- 

 tious grasses he has ever seen and is very early and hardy. It grows 

 about 2 feet high and is very prolific in seeds, which the Indians gather 

 and use for making bread. He says that this grass alone is eqnal to the 

 best hay of other kinds with grain added, and that horses can do good 

 work on it without grain. It grows in all the country from Kansas 

 west to the Pacific, especially in the arid regions, and is an important 

 grass in the native ranches. Although it grows in very arid soil, yet it 

 improves in size and thrift whenever it is near water or can be irrigated. 

 It is deserving of extended trial in the West. 



CEOWrOOT. 



Two species of grass in the Southern States have received the name oi 

 crowfoot, viz, Eleusine indica and Eleusine icgi/ptiacaj or, as it is some- 

 times cnUeA, BactyloUcnium cvgypficum. Dr. ia. W. Eaveuel, of Aiken, 

 S. 0., states that in the lower and middle portions of that State the 

 name of goose-grass is generally applied to the former grass, while tiir 

 latter is universally called crowfoot. The former {E. indica), he says, 

 is confined to rich waste places and old yards and gardens, and is rarely 

 or never seen in ordinary cultivated fields, and is never used for hay be- 

 cause it is found only in tufts and sparsely, whilst the latter {E. agyp- 

 tiaca) is as abundant as crab-grass {Panicum sanguinale) in all cultivated 

 fields, and it is commonly used for hay. 



This is an important distinction, which ought to be generally known 

 and noticed in our popular account of these grasses. 



