G103 

 (leaf 2) 



Indians referred to it as "white man's foot grass"; they believed 

 that, wherever the white man trod, this grass later grew as enduring 

 markers of his footprints. The invasion and expansion of Kentucky 

 blnegrass were so marked and rapid that early Kentucky pioneers, 

 including James Nourse (in 1775), Daniel Boone (in 1784), and 

 Imlay (in 1792), wrote about the abundance of grass meadows simi- 

 lar to those of Europe. At present most authorities agree that 

 Kentucky bluegrass, like timothy and other of our cultivated grasses, 

 was introduced into the country from the Old World, where it is 

 native throughout Europe, northern Asia, and in the mountains of 

 Algeria and Morocco. 



Kentucky bluegrass is now widely distributed throughout most of 

 North America north of Mexico, except in the warmer and desert areas. 

 It is well adapted to the more humid and cooler temperate regions and 

 grows most abundantly from Kentucky to Missouri northward to 

 Alaska and Labrador. It also thrives in more arid regions where 

 ample soil moisture is supplied. In the central Rocky Mountains it 

 sometimes grows abundantly in the valleys but is seldom abundant in 

 the mountains, although often common on localized areas, and is 

 found at elevations up to as high as 10,000 feet. It occurs sparingly 

 on favorable sites in the Southwest; and in California, where the 

 summers are hot, is confined to the cool mountainous regions. 



Kentucky bluegrass will grow on a wide diversity of sites, but 

 it thrives best on well-drained loams or clay loams which are pre- 

 eminently rich in humus. It is outstandingly abundant on the rich 

 limestone soils of the historic bluegrass regions of Kentucky and 

 Virginia, where the grass frequently attains such density as to 

 crowd out all other species. Consequently experts formerly thought 

 that Kentucky bluegrass required an abundance of lime. However, 

 recent investigations of the United States Department* of Agricul- 

 ture at Arlington Farm, Va., show that application of lime to soils 

 deficient in that chemical material had little or no effect on blue- 

 grass growth. Kentucky bluegrass is frequently found on wet soils, 

 but, unlike redtop, it does not thrive on acid soils and it cannot 

 survive on water-logged sites. In the West this grass ordinarily 

 inhabits the richer mountainous soils and moister sites, often oc- 

 curring in meadows, along water courses, and in the more or less 

 open and semishaded benchlands. 



Kentucky bluegrass usually produces an abundance of nutritious 

 forage and lush herbage which are highly palatable to all classes of 

 livestock as well as to elk and deer. It rates as very good for cattle 

 and horses, good for sheep and elk, and is one of the better forage 

 grasses for deer. These game animals freely graze the tender leaf- 

 age during the spring, immediately after growth begins, when the 

 leaves are young and succulent. If moisture supply is ample and the 

 temperature does not rise above 90 F., the foliage remains green 

 and palatable throughout the summer. Kentucky bluegrass sod 

 is unusually resistant to heavy utilization, being able not only to 

 maintain itself but to increase the stand even on heavily trampled 

 areas where the plants are cropped closely. 



