Smooth brome, often referred to as common brome, Hungarian 

 brome, awnless brome, field brome, Austrian brome, and Russian 

 brome, is a long-lived perennial grass with running rootstocks and 

 is one of the most successful of cultivated, introduced species, being 

 used extensively for pasture and forage crop plantings. The com- 

 mon name "smooth" refers to the hairless leaf sheaths and outer 

 flower bracts. This imported grass has long been cultivated on the 

 dry plains of Hungary and the Russian steppes. It was introduced 

 into the United States about 1880 by the California Agricultural 

 Experiment Station and has since been grown extensively as hay 

 and pasturage from Alaska as far south as Tennessee, Kansas, and 

 California. 



Smooth brome grows best in regions of rather light rainfall and moderate 

 summer temperatures. It is most popular in the Dakotas, Montana, and west- 

 ern Canada where it grows luxuriantly and produces an abundance of palatable 

 and nutritious forage. This plant is one of the most palatable of all grasses, 

 being relished by all classes of livestock especially during the spring and early 

 summer. However, cattle and horses graze it more than sheep and goats. 



This grass normally produces an abundance of viable seed except at the 

 higher elevations where the seasons are too short for a seed crop. Commercial 

 seed is produced in Canada and North Dakota, with yields ranging from 200 

 to 600 pounds per acre. 1 From 15 to 25 pounds of seed are sown per acre 

 during the spring or late fall on well-prepared seed beds. Good, stands; are 

 usually secured and, if grazed lightly the first year, they increase rapidly and 

 form a complete sod the second or third year. Smooth brome is often one of 

 the major constituents of many pasture mixtures, and is highly recommended 

 for use in western Canada and the northwestern United States. 3 



Livestock do remarkably well on smooth brome hay, although it is con- 

 sidered more valuable for pasturage. It is frequently planted, in mixture 

 with alfalfa as these two forages ripen simultaneously ; the brome expedites 

 alfalfa curing and increases the value of the mixed hay. Hay yields vary from 

 1% to 3% tons per acre. The crop is usually light the first year after 

 planting, increases in tonnage the second year, and attains maximum produc- 

 tion in the third season. Throughout its range, the crop usually is cut but 

 once although in a few places two cuttings are secured. 



Throughout its entire range, volunteer plants from, the cultivated fields have 

 gained sparse and scattered footholds on many of the mountain ranges, 

 particularly in the semiarid regions of the West and Northwest. This species 

 is frequently found at all elevations up to 9,000 feet. It will grow as high 

 as 10,500 feet in central Utah but does not reseed at that elevation. It often 

 makes a heavy growth of 2 feet or more on the deep, black clay loams of 

 meadows and canyons but also thrives on the dry loose soils of the slopes and 

 hills and succeeds fairly well on sandy soils. 



Smooth brome is one of the best cultivated species introduced 3 into the 

 western mountains. It has been widely used by the Forest Service in the 

 artificial reseeding of mountain ranges and has proved well adapted for the 

 rehabilitation of overgrazed, eroded, and burned-over 4 range lands. Good 

 stands are usually obtained in fairly moist rather deep soils, where the species 

 develops an extensive root system which frequently penetrates to depths of 5 

 feet or more, binds the soil firmly, and fortifies the plant to withstand grazing 

 and unusual drought conditions. 



1 Piper, C. V. CULTIVATED GRASSES of SECONDARY IMPORTANCE. TJ. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Farmers' Bull. 1433, 42 pp., illus. 1925. 



2 Semple, A. T., Vinall, H. N., Enlow, C. R., and Woodward, T. E. A PASTURE HANDBOOK. 

 TJ. S. Dept. Agr. Misc. Pub. 194, 89 pp., illus. 1934. 



Forsling, C. L., and Dayton, W. A. ARTIFICIAL RESEEDING ON WESTERN MOUNTAIN 

 RANGE LANDS. TJ. S. Dept. Agr. Circ. ITS, 48 pp., illus. 1931. 



* Christ, J. H. RESEEDING BURNED-OVER LANDS IN NORTHERN IDAHO. Idaho Agr. Eipt. 

 Sta. Bull. 201, 28 pp., illus. 1934. 



