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Value as a Fodder—We know very little about its value in this 
respect, and I would ask residents of the districts in which it grows 
to give it more attention. It produces a fairly leafy bottom, and is 
probably eaten by stock with the other grasses when young, but while 
still perfectly green and only in inflorescence. I have seen acres 
of pasture in which it preponderates with scarcely a spike bitten 
off. Nevertheless, arguing from analogy, it is probably a nutritious 
grass. 
We have three species of Agropyrum, and they are peculiar to 
Australia, with the exception that A. scabrum extends to New Zealand. 
We know so little about the genus from Australian experience, that 
perhaps a few notes of the experience of other countries in regard to 
other species of Agropyrum may be of some use. I quote from Vasey’s 
“ Agricultural Grasses and Forage Plants of the United States” 
(1889). 
A. tenerum occurs mostly in low, moist ground, grows in clumps, 
and is one of the best grasses for hay. 
A. repens* (Couch-grass of the United States; Quack-grass). “The 
farmers of the United States unite in one continuous howl of execra- 
tion against this grass, and it seems strange, when every man’s hand 
is against it, that it is not extermmated. Yet we could never really 
satisfy ourselves that its presence in meadows and pastures was such 
an unmitigated curse. In lands where alternate husbandry is practised 
it must be admitted to be an evil of great magnitude. Its hardiness 
is such, and its rapidity of growth so great, that it sprigs up much 
more rapidly than any crop that can be planted, and chokes it; still, 
this grass has many virtues. It is perfectly cosmopolitan in its habits. 
It is found in all sorts of soil and climates. Its creeping roots are 
succulent and very nutritive, and are greedily devoured by horses 
and cows.” 
Of A. glaucum (Blue stem or Blue joint), considered by some to be 
a variety of the preceding, Professor Scribner writes: ‘“‘ It is the most 
highly praised of the native grasses for hay. Wherever it occupies 
exclusively any large area of ground, as it does frequently in the 
lower districts, especially near Fort Benton, it is cut for hay. Naturally 
it does not yield a great bulk, but its quality is unsurpassed. After 
two or three cuttings the yield of hay diminishes so much that it is 
scarcely worth the harvesting. It is then customary to drag a short- 
toothed harrow over the sod, which breaks up the creeping roots or 
underground stems, and each fragment then makes a new plant.” 
Speaking of the genus in general in the United States, Mr. T. A. 
Williams says: “‘ These grasses mature early, and are the chief forage 
plants in the Western (U.S.A.) cattle districts, on which thrive the 
choice beeves which command fancy prices in the eastern markets. 
They have few equals among the grasses of the western prairies in the 
quantity or quality of forage produced, and should be cultivated and 
improved as much as possible.’” 
* Or rather A. pseudo-repens, Scribner and Smith, p. 34, Bulletin No. 4, ‘Studies in 
American Grasses ” (1897). 
