M. GLOMERATA, TRIN., MUHLENBERGS GRASS. 183 



West for many years as a valuable wild one, there are to be found 

 scarcely any references to its value iu published books or reports 

 to which I have access. Flint, in his great and valuable work. 

 * Grasses and Forage Plants,' describes it and then remarks, 

 ' Of no agricultural value.' Dr. Darlington, iii his book, "Amer- 

 ican Weeds and Useful Plants,' does not even mention it; but 

 in reference to a closely-allied species he says : ' It affords an 

 indifferent pasture in the latter part of siimmer ; but it is not of 

 much worth.' Dr. Killebrew does not mention it in his book, 

 'Grasses, Meadows and Pastures.' Dr. Vasey, in * The Agri- 

 cultural Grasses of the United States,' says, 'Specimens have 

 l)een sent from Colorado and Kansas and recommended as an ex- 

 cellent grass for hay.' 



"■ Now, chemical analyses show that Muhlenberg grass is highly 

 nutritious. In the years 1878 and 1879, at my suggestion, Mr. 

 W. K. Robbins, a graduate of the Iowa Agricultural College, 

 made analyses of this grass, with results which showed that in 

 nutritiousness it ranked with red top and blue grass, and, in 

 some instances, Timothy. More recent analyses by the govern- 

 ment chemist at Washington make a still better showing. Tak- 

 ing an average of the analyses I find the following results: 



'* Timothy contains 4^ per cent of albuminoids. 



''Orchard grass contains 6| per cent of albuminoids. 



" Red top contains 6f per cent of albuminoids. 



" Blue grass contains 8 per cent of albuminoids. 



" Muhlenberg grass contains 17 2-5 per cent of albuminoids. 



" That is, Muhlenberg grass is more than twice as nutritious, 

 weight for weight, as blue grass. It is nearly three times as nu- 

 tritious as red top and orchard grass, and about four times as 

 nutritious us Timothy. Xow I would not for a moment be un- 

 derstood as considering these analyses as settling the relative 

 merits of these grasses. It is well known, however, that the 

 analysis of a grass is one of the important factors in determining 



