WEEDS OF THE FARM AND GARDEN 



leaf blade flat, three to ten inches long, rather rough on 

 the upper surface; panicle elliptical or oblong, branches 

 usually spreading; spikelets three to ten inches long, 

 seven to forty-flowered, becoming whitish when old ; 

 flowering glumes very prominently nerved and rough on 

 the keel ; emits an unpleasant odor ; blooms from June to 

 October. A weedy grass, common in fields and gardens 

 across the continent. 



Wire Grass (Poa compressa, L.). Sometimes called 

 English blue grass, a pale, slender, but rather rigid, 

 perennial, with a much flattened stem, six to twenty 

 inches high, ascending from a more or less creeping root- 

 stock; dense narrow panicles somewhat one-sided, one 

 to three inches long, short branches mostly in pairs ; ped- 

 icels shorter than the spikelets, which are lanceolate, five 

 to nine-flowered and flattened ; blooms from June to Sep- 

 tember. A native of Europe, but extensively naturalized 

 in this country; found in nearly all parts of the North, 

 growing in dry, sterile places and waste lands ; an excel- 

 lent forage plant, but yields less than blue grass. 



Cheat or Chess (Bromus secalinus, L.). An erect an- 

 nual growing from two to three feet tall ; generally 

 smooth, occasionally pubescent at the nodes ; sheath 

 striate, usually smooth ; rather broadly linear leaf blade 

 from six to twelve inches long, smooth beneath and more 

 or less rough or pilose on the upper surface ; flowers ar- 

 ranged in panicles, from four to eight inches long, erect, 

 the more or less compound branches spreading even in 

 fruit; spikelets from six to ten lines long, and six to 

 twelve-flowered, drooping in fruit ; first empty glume 

 three to five ; second, seven-nerved ; flowering glumes ob- 

 scurely seven-nerved, smooth or minutely downy along 

 the margins and near the apex, becoming cylindrical in 

 fruit ; blooms in July and August. A well-known weed 

 of grain fields, found in all parts of the wheat-growing 

 sections of the country. 



