72 THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



71. Relationships. The Poas are botanically more closely re- 

 lated to the fescues, orchard grass, and brome grass than to tim- 

 othy and redtop, in that in the former the spikelets are all two or 

 more flowered instead of one-flowered and the flowering glume 

 is chartaceous instead of hyaline. There are about 100 species 

 of this genus distributed throughout all temperate and cold 

 countries and in the high mountains of the tropics. The seeds 

 of a number are commercially distributed, of which may be 

 mentioned: Canada blue grass or wire grass, characterized by 

 its blue color, flat, shorter culms (larger diameter twice the 

 shorter), large spikelets with three to nine flowers and spreading 

 decumbent habit; rough stalked meadow grass (Poa trivialis L,.) , 

 characterized by its aerial runners, rough leaf sheaths, and long 

 ligules; wood meadow grass (Poa ncmoralis L.) ; and fowl 

 meadow grass (Poa flava L.). 



Canada blue grass is, in most parts of the United States, 

 considered a weed, and its occurrence in a field is usually 

 esteemed not only as an indication of decreased value in the 

 pasture, but also an indication of a poor soil. Several au- 

 thorities recommend it for dry soils. Zavitz, of Ontario, 

 Canada, and Jones, of Vermont, recommend it as superior in 

 feeding value for pasture to Kentucky blue grass; while Spill- 

 man states that in eastern Ontario and western New York it 

 is sometimes cut for hay and that although the yield is small, the 

 hay is highly prized, being preferred by horsemen to timothy. 1 



On Dunkirk stony clay in western New York, where land 

 had been in wheat for years until it became very poor, it was 

 observed by Fraser that after ten years the land carried a large 

 proportion of Canada blue grass; that in older grass land 

 Kentucky blue grass predominated, while in still older grass 

 land meadow fescue began to appear. These grasses evidently 

 represent a gradual improvement of the land through years of 

 pasturing, as well as the relative adaptability of the grasses 



iFarm Grasses of the United States, p. 102. 



