REDTOP 



139 



light and large, it is usually sown broadcast, preferably by hand. 

 If it is sown pure, about 25 pounds should be used to the acre. 

 Not infrequently the seed is scattered with that of oats, the aim 

 being to sow about one bushel of oats per acre with about 20 

 pounds of the bromegrass 

 seed. The nurse crop — oats, 

 for example — should be cut 

 early, in order that the brome- 

 grass stand may not be sup- 

 pressed. 



Hungarian bromegrass does 

 well on the Ughter, moder- 

 ately moist soils. The largest 

 yields, however, are obtained 

 on moist, deep, rich, loamy 

 soils. Even under the best 

 conditions bromegrass stands 

 become sod-bound in a few 

 years. Accordingly, it is best 

 to take a few hay crops off 

 the land and then use it for 

 pasture for two or three years. 

 After that the land had best 

 be plowed and used for grow- 

 ing other cultivated crops. 



Redtop. — Red top (Agros- 

 tis palustris), formerly known 

 to botanists as A. alba} is 

 also called herd's grass in the 

 southern United States, and 

 bent grass in England. It is 

 a perennial and will be recog- 

 nized by its reclining or root- 

 ing base, the short rootstocks, 

 the numerous flat leaves, and the erect, open panicle, 2 to 12 



' The scientific name of redtop will be found in seed catalogues as Agrostis 

 alba, A . alba vulgaris, or A . capillaris. 



REDTOP (Asrostis palustris). 



