PERENNIAL KOKACK (BRASSES 25 



constituted nearly one-fourth of the total acreage producing 

 hay and forage. The great bulk four-fifths of this produc- 

 tion was confined to the North Central states, forming a distinct 

 western border to timothy culture. These grasses are supplied 

 by a considerable number of tribes of the grass family, but 

 come principally from seven tribes, of which the most important 

 are probably the Chlorideae, furnishing blue or white grama 

 (Bouteloua oligostachya (Nutt.) Torr.), the Andropogoneae, 

 furnishing big blue stem (Andropogon provincialis Lam.), and 

 the Hordeae, furnishing western wheat grass (Agropyron 

 spicatum (Pursh) Scribn. & Smith). 1 



23. Influence of Species of Plants on Value of Pasture. A 



grass or other plant in a mixed herbage is no evidence of its 

 value, since its occurrence may be due to the failure of animals 

 to eat it readily. (8) In America, blue grass is widely prized 

 as a pasture grass; while stock men generally look upon wire 

 grass or Canadian blue grass as a weed and as having little 

 food value. Certain observations, however, seem to indicate 

 that although wire grass is likely to occur on less productive 

 land, and therefore to support fewer animals per acre, cattle 

 can be fattened upon it. 



With the view to determining the relative value of different 

 species of grasses and of different species of plants other than 



1 These tribes together furnish, among others, 16 species of rather well 

 established economic importance. They are as follows: 



Andropogoneae: big blue stem (Andropogon provincialis Lam.), little blue 

 stem (A. Scoparius Michx.), bushy blue stem (A. nutans L.), broom sedge 

 (A. virginicus L.) ; Zoysieae: black bunch grass or black grama (Hilaria mu- 

 tica (Buck.) Benth.) ; Paniceae: munro-grass (Panicum agrostoides Muhl.); 

 Agrostideae: wild timothy (Muhlenbergia racemosa (Michx.) B. S. P.), wire 

 grama (M. porteri Scribn.), saccaton or maton (Sporobolus wrightii Munro) ; 

 Festuceae: salt grass (Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene), reed meadow grass 

 (Panicularia americana (Torr.) MacM.) ; Chlorideae: blue or white grama 

 (Bouteloua oligostachya (Nutt.) Torr.) ; side oats (B. curtipendula (Mx.) 

 Torr.); Hordeae: giant rye grass (Elymus condensatus Presl.), western wheat 

 grass (Agropyron spicatum (Pursh) Scribn. & Smith), western couch grass 

 (A. pseudorepens Scribn. & Smith). 



