THE THREE LEADING FORAGE GRASSES 67 



The export trade demands that fancy seed should weigh 

 22 pounds per bushel. The seed on the domestic 

 market is usually lighter than this and correspondingly 

 poor. 



Bluegrass as a Weed 



In the alfalfa regions of the west, bluegrass often be- 

 comes a troublesome weed in alfalfa fields. It thrives 

 under irrigation and pushes in wherever the alfalfa is 

 scanty, gradually crowding out the latter. The blue- 

 grass does not grow tall enough to replace the alfalfa in 

 the yield and there is a distinct loss. There is no 

 remedy for a badly infested alfalfa field but to plow it 

 up and start anew. 



Description 



A perennial grass, usually 1 to 2 feet tall, but under 

 favorable conditions 3 or even 4 feet tall, producing 

 slender creeping rootstocks sending up new shoots at 

 intervals, the mass of rootstocks finally forming a firm 

 sod. The stems erect, usually somewhat tufted, smooth, 

 round or very slightly flattened (this noticeable by rolling 

 between thumb and finger). The leaves mostly at the 

 base of the stem. Sheaths smooth, sometimes some- 

 what keeled or angled along the back, the lower short, 

 but the uppermost long. Ligule short and very blunt, 

 thin, about 1 mm. long, that of the sterile shoots shorter 

 and that of the uppermost stem leaf longer. Blades 

 narrow, those of the basal cluster long and slender, 

 several inches or even a foot long, usually not over 4 mm. 

 wide, flat of folded, a cross section thus V-shaped, the 

 tip suddenly narrowed into a boat-shaped point, the 

 6 



