GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 189 



summer heat. It fills all our corn fields, and many persons pull- it out, which is a tedious 

 process. It makes a sweet hay, and. horses are exceeding fond of it, leaving the best hay 

 to eat it.&quot; 



Tall Panic Grass, SwitchGraSS (Panicum virgatum). A tall perennial grass growing 

 mostly in clumps in wet or damp soil, especially near the sea-coast. It grows from three to 

 five feet high, and furnishes very good feed for stock if cut when juicy and tender. If cut 

 when ripe, it is very harsh and unpalatable. It forms a considerable portion of the native 

 grasses of the prairies, especially in those localities where the soil is unusually moist. 



Slender Crab Grass (Panicum filiforme). A native species of crab grass. It is an 

 annual, growing with erect slender culms, which terminate with from three to five slender 

 spikes of flowers; leaves from one to two inches long. The stems are thin and wiry, the 

 leaves small and scanty, furnishing but little herbage, and for this reason it has little or no 

 agricultural value. It grows mostly in dry sandy soil. 



Obtuse Flowered Panic Grass (Panieum obtusom). This is similar to the Panicum 

 Texanum, or Texas millet, although it does not grow as high as the latter, and is less vigor 

 ous. It is found in many of the Southern States, but has never been used very extensively 

 for agricultural purposes. 



Guinea Grass (Panicum jumentorum). This grass is a native of Africa, and is exten 

 sively cultivated in tropic sections. Mr. C. Mohr of Mobile says of it: &quot;It is planted with us 

 in the beginning of April; admits the first cutting during the last week of May; it makes 

 very large bunches, and is to be cut before extending to the height of about eighteen inches. 

 In that stage it is very sweet, tender, and as easily cured as hay. In moderately fertilized land 

 and favorable seasons, it can be cut every five or six weeks, yielding, by its throwing out 

 numerous stolons, increased crops until killed down by frost. The roots are easily protected 

 during the winter by a good covering with ground, like the rattoons of sugar-cane, and 

 allowing of a manifold division, afford the best means of propagation. These root-cuttings 

 are set out in March or the beginning of April.&quot; This grass must not be confounded with 

 the Sorghum halapense or Johnson grass, which is often improperly called Guinea grass, from 

 its similar habit and appearance.&quot; 



Agrostis-like Panic Grass (Panicum agrostoides). This grass has its stems flattened, 

 upright, two feet high, leaves long, sheaths smooth, spikelets on the spreading branches 

 crowded and one-sided, ovate, oblong, acute, purplish. It is common on wet meadows and bor 

 ders of rivers. Flowers in July and August. 



Prolific Panic Grass (Panicum proliferum) grows on brackish marshes and meadows, 

 and is common along the coast. It sometimes appears on dry places. Cattle are fond of it. 

 It differs from the preceding in having culms thickened, succulent, branched and bent, 

 ascending from a procumbent base, and spikelets appressed, lance-oval, of a pale green 

 color. 



Hair Stalked Panic Grass (Panicum capillare) grows in sandy soils and cultivated 

 fields everywhere. Its culm is upright, often branched at the base, and forming a tuft, 

 sheaths flattened, very hairy, panicle pyramidal, hairy, compound and very loose, spikelets 

 scattered on long pedicels, oblong, pointed. Flowers in August and September. 



Broad-Leaved Panic Grass (Panicum latifolium). This is a grass with a perennial, 

 fibrous root, and stem from one to two feet high, and leaves broad, long, taper-pointed, 

 smooth or slightly downy, branches of panicle spreading, spikelets long, obovate, downy. 

 Flowers in June and July. It is common in moist thickets and woods. Of no value for 

 cultivation. 



