178 GRASSES OP IOWA. 



and after burrowing through it frequently penetrate the skin 

 and bury themselves in the flesh. A large number of these 

 barbs thus entering the tissues of the body produce an amount 

 of irritation that is sometimes followed by death. I have seen 

 large numbers of these imbedded in the skin and muscular 

 tissues of shepherd dogs that were covered with a thick growth 

 of soft hair. These sagacious animals frequently exihit the 

 greatest dread at being sent into the grass during the season 

 of danger." 



Professor Bessey in his account of the structure of this plant 

 received several responses, and one of these was from Professor 

 King, now of the University of Wisconsin. "In connection 

 with the two notes relating to the fruit of the porcupine grass, 

 it may not be without interest to say that while engaged in 

 geological work in Dakota, north of the Northern Pacific rail- 

 road, we were much annoyed by the fruit of this grass. Indeed, 

 I found the only way to walk with comfort through this grass 

 was to roll my pants above my knees and my socks down over 

 my shoes. I also observed, on several occasions, these seeds 

 planted two inches deep in the soil with the aw as protruding 

 from the ground. It is plain that with the point of one of these 

 fruits once entered below the soil, the swelling and shrinking, 

 due to varying amounts of moisture, would work the seeds 

 directly into the ground." 



The Stipa comata, or needle grass of the west, which is com- 

 mon throughout the Dakotas, and throughout west Dakota, 

 Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado, is common in prairie hay, 

 and Prof. Thomas A. Williams* mentions that, though a for- 

 age plant, and not cut until the needles have fallen so that the 

 stock may not be injured, the fruit of this plant often injures 

 stock to a considerable extent. 



Corn staJks. — For a long time farmers in the west and other 

 parts of the United States have been troubled with the 

 so-called corn stalk disease. This has been attributed to vari- 

 ous causes, as impaction of the stomach and a bacterial disease. 

 Dr. Mayo, of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 attributed it to an excess of pjtassium nitrate in the stalks. 



Injuries from barley. — It has long been known that the barbed 

 awns of barley, wild barley and other plants act injuriously in 

 a mechanical way. In the west this is especially true of wild 



•Grasses and forage plants of the Dakotas. Bull. U. S. Dept. Agrl. Dlv. Agrostol- 

 ogy. 6: 20. 



