GRASSES OF IOWA 343 



It was introduced by the California agricultural experiment 

 station about 1880. Its cultivation on the college grounds 

 began in 1888. It has been grown since 1890 at Dysart and 

 Battle Creek. Since 1897 it has become more widely diffused 

 in the state and elsewhere largely through the efforts of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, Hon. James Wilson, the agricultural 

 press and F. Lamson-Scribner. Seedsmen also have done 

 much to extend its cultivation. 



Hungarian brome {Bromus inermis) is without doubt one of 

 the most valuable of all the grasses which have been introduced 

 in recent years. Not only is it an excellent drouth resister but 

 it is a most productive grass. It starts early in sprirg and 

 affords good picking nearly as early as blue grass. For past- 

 ure purposes it is certainly far better than timothy. It is only 

 a question of time until this grass will become as common as- 

 timothy. There has never been a crop failure of this since its- 

 growth on the college farm, but there is considerable variation 

 with reference to its productiveness. Newly sown meadows are 

 much more productive than those that are two or three years old. 

 During the season of 1900 this grass was quite vigorous, the 

 culms measuring from two to three feet high. There was an 

 even mat, but in meadows three years old it was some- 

 what dwarfed, and this seems to be the usual experience with 

 this grass. During 1899 this grass did very much better. 

 Prof. James Atkinson* says in regard to it: 



'"Owing to its extreme hardiness it is one of the first plants 

 to begin to grow in the spring, when once established. Incase 

 of a one-year-old sod, it began to head out six weeks after 

 growth began in the spring. The same crop was cut and gave 

 a yield of twelve tons of green fodder June 10th, which cured 

 into five tons of hay. It must be remembered that the soil 

 upon which this was grown was very rich. A bare soil, treated 

 in the same manner, produced less than one ton per acre. 

 According to station analysis, it is quite similar to timothy in 

 comp:sition. If seeded thickly and cut at the proper time, it 

 is a little superior, owing to the leafy nature of its growth. 

 At cutting time, the leaves were stripped off of a portion of the 

 crop, and it was found that there was a greater percentage of 

 leaves than of stem. It yields at the rate of two or three tons 

 to the acre. " 



♦BuU. Iowa Agr. Col. Exp. Sta.45:225. 



