70 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



five or six inches long and developing long, narrow grains much 

 resembling wheat. It is a perennial and grows to a height of 

 two or three feet. Dr. Bessey says of this plant : "If our plant 

 had had but a fraction of the careful cultivation and selection 

 which have been given the European species, I am confident that 

 it would have yielded a much more productive cereal than we 

 have in our present varieties of wheat." Consider, further, that 

 we have here a perennial which would doubtless yield for several 

 or, possibly, many years without reseeding, and also that it is a 

 native of the great plains region and thus already adapted to 

 the environment of the great wheat States of the Union. Of 

 this grass and wheat, which would we expect to be best adapted 

 to the "dry farming" regions of the West? 



Several of the wild rye grasses (Elymus) have large heads and 

 grains, and appear very promising, as do also certain species of 

 the so-called beard-grass (Andropogon). 



We have only considered the value of these grasses from the 

 standpoint of their grain development, but it is of almost equal 

 importance to consider their value as forage crops for animal 

 food ; and here much greater latitude of selection is possible. A 

 very large number of our native plants should be tested, and 

 the most promising improved for forage purposes. 



In the development of leguminous crops we have a valuable 

 field of research. Of the many hundreds of legumes, we now 

 cultivate only about a dozen species, such as beans, peas, clover, 

 alfalfa, crimson clover, cowpeas, soy beans, and the like, repre- 

 senting a natural adaptation to as many localities. None of the 

 species ordinarily cultivated in the northern United States are 

 natives of this great section. Yet an examination of the botanies 

 shows that some one hundred and fifty diflferent species of 

 legumes are natives of this section. Would it not seem absurd 

 to assume that our present cultivated species represent the best 

 types for this section, when the most promising of those which 

 the great Master Breeder gave us have not been thoroughly 

 improved and tested? Among the wild native species of Desmo- 

 dium, Vicia, Lespedeza and other legumes, we have a number 

 of promising sorts. We have tested many of these species in 

 comparison with our ordinary cultivated crops and discarded 

 them, but our tests have been of the wild, unimproved against 

 the improved types. We might as reasonably put gloves on a 

 wild pygmy of Africa and test him on the mat with a trained 

 modern athlete. 



