290 Practical Farming 



very well with it, but it thrives on low moist lands better 



than orchard grass does and is at its best on such soils. 



It is a very valuable grass both for pasture and hay, and 



thrives excellently on Hmestone soils to which it seems to 



be especially adapted. Festuca ovina, sheep fescue, is a 



dense low-growing tufted grass that succeeds on thin hilly 



soils, and has been found well adapted to sheep pastures. 



It is also useful as a mixture in lawn grasses, but is of no 



value as a hay grass. 



The Brome grasses include the Bromus 

 Bromus . . . 



secalinus which is commonly called chess or 



cheat, and by many farmers it is imagined that wheat and 



oats when killed down by frost will turn to cheat. But 



the fact is that the cheat is a distinct grass of a very hardy 



nature and the seeds germinate and grow when the cereal 



is destroyed and the farmer seeing green plants there 



thinks it is the grain till it heads out in its true character. 



There are some of the family that have acquired a 

 reputation as valuable grasses. One of these is Bromus 

 unioloideSy known as rescue grass. This is a winter- 

 growing grass in the South, and has some value there, 

 but none northward. 



Bromus inermis, or smooth brome grass has of late years 

 been found to be a valuable grass for pasture in the semi- 

 arid sections of the West. It stands drought and forms a 

 dense sod. In the more humid sections of the East it has 

 not been found of much value. 



The L(?/mw5, or rye grasses, are hay plants 



of much value. Lolium perenne or Italian 



rye grass. Hardly in our cUmates deserves the name of 



perennial, as it is usually of short duration* But sown 



