CHAPTER XVIII. 



GRASSES. 



Varieties. — Probably uofc one farmer in a thous- 

 and east of the one -hundredth meridian in the United 

 States knows any other cultivated grass by name 

 Ihan Timothy, Red top and Kentucky blue grass, or 

 any other clover than medium red clover and white 

 clover. Fortunate is the farmer who has no need to 

 know any other. 



There are considerable areas of the United States, 

 however, in which none of these thrive particularly 

 well, notably the South Atlantic and Gulf States, and 

 much of that vast area west of the one -hundredth 

 meridian. 



Probably in no other country are the cultivated 

 grasses and clovers grown in such purity as in the 

 United States. Yet a considerable part of herbage 

 of this country consists of native grasses and forage 

 plants. 



The herbage of the ranges is composed of a large 

 number of species of grasses and grass -like plants. 

 These grasses have the common characteristics of 

 growing in a dry climate and producing a nutritious 

 herbage which retains its nutritious qualities when 

 dried standing. This is probably in part due to the 

 climate rather than to the kind of grasses. Fermen- 

 tive and putrefactive changes of all kind take place 

 less rapidly than in a moist climate. 



The most common grasses of this character on the 

 Great Plains are Grama or Mesquite grass [Boute- 



201 



