ARRHENATHERUM, TALL OAT-GRASS. 125 



lific. ] wjuit a permanent grass, so I have not tried to destroy 

 it." 



The writer has raised this grass on rather light, sandy soil at 

 Lansing, Michigan, for twelve years or more, has seen it in some 

 other localities iu the State, and thinks he can tell why there are 

 such conflicting opinions in relation to its value. In England 

 the climate is moist, and the finer succulent grasses thrive well, 

 while tall oat-grass does better in a hotter, dryer climate. He has 

 had occasion to kill several plats and has had no more trouble 

 with it than in killing so much Timothy. There are some bulbs 

 on the sort raised in Michigan, but they are not hard to kill. 

 Like orchard grass, it ripens very quickly after blooming, and to 

 make good hay there must be no delay in cutting. As it blos- 

 soms rather early, many let it go too long before- cutting, when 

 the stems become woody and of poor quality. Again, bad weather 

 often interferes with the cvitting just at the right time, and poor 

 hay is the result. A man doesn't want a very large quantity of 

 this grass to mow, unless he is prepared to cut it all in a day or 

 two. It makes a fine growth the first season after sowing, and if 

 sown alone Avill cut a good crop of hay. 



I find that stock eat the grass Avell, thougli most likely they 

 would prefer to have some grass not so bitter for a part of the time. 

 The seed is rather light, weighing fourteen pounds to the bushel 

 in the chaff. About two bushels to the acre are usually sown. 

 Only half of the flowers set seed, as ever}^ other one is staminate. 

 The seed is rather large, starts early, and soon makes a vigorous 

 plant. This fits it for alternate husbandry and for dry countries. 

 In saving the seed, care needs to be used to cut the grass just 

 as soon as the top of the panicle is ready. Not a half day should 

 go by or seed Avill be lost. It is cut high, bound in small bundles, 

 shocked till Avell cured, when it is drawn to the threshing floor 

 on a wagon supplied with a canvas to save the shelling seeds. 

 It yields from ten to twenty bushels of seed to the acre. 



