GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 175 



some in crops; live stock are very fond of it in all stages of growth and as dry hay. A 

 neighbor has a meadow of it from which he mows every summer about two tons of hay per 

 acre. It is very easy to set land with it.&quot; 



Smut Grass. (Sparibolus indicus.) This grass is a native of India, but is now 

 spread over many countries, and is found more or less abundantly in all the Southern States. 

 It is called &quot;Smut grass,&quot; on account of its heads becoming affected with a blackish smut 

 after flowering. It is said to grow luxuriantly on uncultivated lands, and is eaten by cattle 

 and Horses with evident relish, and seems a valuable plant. Dr. Gattinger, of Tennessee, 

 says of it: 



&quot; All parts of the plant are equally pliant and succulent. It sprouts again after being 

 pastured down, with numerous new culms, and its growing season lasts from May till frost. 

 The culms stand about two feet high, and, as far as I have observed, I found it always grow 

 ing in patches. It grows in low and small tufts, and sticks firmly to the soil. I would very 

 earnestly recommend to try it under cultivation.&quot; The flowers are borne in a long, narrow, 

 spike-like panicle. The spikelets are single flowered, with unequal glumes. 



Wild Fescue. (Uniola latifolia.) This is a beautiful grass with very large spikelets; 

 in form they are somewhat like those of the Bromus unioloides, and, like them, are very flat 

 and compressed. Mr. Charles Mohr, of Alabama, says of it: 



&quot; A fine vernal grass, with a rich foliage, blooming early in May, two to three feet high; 

 frequent in damp, sandy loam, forming large tufts. This perennial grass is certainly valuable, 

 affording an abundant range early in the season; if cultivated it would yield large crops 

 ready for cutting from the 1st of May. It is called, by some, wild fescue or oat grass. It is 

 not found near the coast, consequently I had no chance to observe its growth during the 

 latter part of the summer and in the winter season, and therefore am not able to judge of its 

 value as a pasture grass.&quot; It grows as far north as Pennsylvania, but it is less vigorous in 

 growth as it advances northward. 



Smooth Brome Grass, or Upright Chess, (Bromus racemotus,) has a panicle erect, 

 simple, rather narrow, contracted when in fruit. Flowers closer than in the preceding 

 lower palea exceeding the upper, bearing an awn of its own length. Stem erect, round, 

 more slender than in chess, sheaths slightly hairy. In other respects it is. very much like 

 Willard s bromus, but may always be distinguished from it as well as from Bromus arvensis, 

 in the summit of the large glume being half-way between its base and the summit of the 

 third floret, on the same side; whereas in Willard s bromus the summit of the large glume is 

 half-way between its base and summit of the second floret. This character is constant, and 

 offers the surest mark of distinction. It is common in grain fields. Flowers in June. It 

 is worthless for cultivation. 



Soft Chess, or Soft Brome Grass, (Bromus mollis,) is sometimes found. I pro 

 cured beautiful specimens of it at Nantucket, where it was growing in the turf with other 

 grasses on a sandy soil near the shore. Its panicle is erect, closely contracted in fruit, spike- 

 lets conical, ovate, stems erect, more or less hairy, with the hairs pointing downwards from 

 twelve to eighteen inches high, joints four or five, slightly hairy, leaves flat, striated, hairy 

 on both sides, rough at the edges and points; summit of the large glume midway between 

 its base and the apex of the third floret, by which it is always distinguished from Willard s 

 bromus. Flowers in June. Birds are fond of the seed, which are large and ripen early. 

 Of no value for cultivation. 



The Wild Chess, (Bromus kalmii,) is another species, found often in dry, open 

 wood-lands. It has a small, simple panicle, with the spikelets drooping on hairy peduncles, 

 seven to twelve flowered and silky; awn only one-third the length of the lance-shaped flower, 



