WILD GRASSES. ] ! 3 



are very nutritious, and wherever found afford rich food for stock. 

 Poa serotina, Ehrh, is perhaps the most important. It may be 

 recognized by its open panicle, which branches in fives, the spike- 

 lets being pediciled, acute, a little flattened, and from two to four 

 flowered. The flowers are acute, green, and occasionally tinged 

 with purple. It grows from two to three feet high. 



Poa Pratensis, L., is not native to the State, but has spread from 

 old Fort Calhoun, north of Omaha, where it was probably intro- 

 duced many years ago by the hay which the Government sent to 

 the troops at this point. It has spread from this place over twenty- 

 five miles of territory. 



Ihichloe dactyloides, Engl. This is the famous buffalo grass which 

 once grew over the whole region from the Missouri to the moun- 

 tains. It is so well known that it scarcely needs any description. 

 It rarely exceeds two or three inches in height, except the male 

 flower stalk, which may reach five or six inches. The male flow r ers 

 are in flat spikes on the top of the stock. The seed-producing 

 flowers are almost covered by the leaves close to the earth. Both 

 kinds of flowers are borne by the same plant, though the contrary 

 was once believed. It forms dense tufts, spreading by stolens, form- 

 ing broad mats. Engleman first detected the true botanical rela- 

 tions of this plant. This grass has always been a favorite with all 

 kinds of stock. Often when camped on the plains, my lariated 

 horses and mules would touch no other grasses until all the buffalo 

 grass within their reach was consumed. This always occurred, no 

 matter what other kinds of grass were present. This grass, before 

 the advent of the white man, was the chief food of the buffaloes, 

 which, in countless numbers, occupied the plains. It will be found 

 that wherever the buffalo grass is not highly valued, it is confounded 

 with Munroa squarrosa, Torr., which is an almost worthless species. 

 It bears some resemblance to buffalo grass, and is often mistaken 

 for it. But it is an annual with many branches from the base, 

 creeping, and with the leaves clustered together. Of the disap- 

 pearance of the buffalo grass, and my theory as to the cause, I will 

 have something to say presently. 



A word in conclusion as to the way to perpetuate prairie pastures* 

 A complaint often heard in Nebraska is that in a short time the 

 best of prairie grasses, such as sorgum nutans, Andropogon furcattis, 

 etc., will, under severe pasturing and mowing, soon be exterminated, 

 and their place be occupied by weeds. Where no chance is given 

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