PERENNIAL FORAGE GRASSES 9 1 



recommended for shady places, and is said to be valuable as 

 a constituent of permanent meadows either for mowing or 

 grazing. The seed of all the six species just mentioned is high- 

 priced and none is recommended for general culture, although 

 special circumstances or conditions may arise where they will 

 be valuable. 



92. Distribution. There are about 80 species of Festuca 

 widely scattered throughout the world, but espe- 

 cially in the temperate regions. While a number 



of species are native of North America, meadow 

 fescue is introduced. It is one of the chief culti- 

 vated grasses of Great Britain and the continent 

 of Europe, but it has been sparingly cultivated in 

 North America. According to Spillman, its culti- 

 vation has reached some importance in eastern 

 Kansas and western Missouri, where a considerable 

 amount of seed is produced; while in Washington, 

 Idaho, and Oregon it is regarded favorably. It 

 does not seem to have been seriously tried in the 

 North Atlantic states; but judging from the way 

 it is spreading in places where it has escaped from 

 cultivation or where it has been sown in per- 

 manent pastures, there is reason to believe that on 



Spikelet of tall 



rich soils in the cooler climates of northern United meadow fes- 

 States and in Canada it could profitably form a cue< Enlar ^ ed 



J two times. 



part of the mixture for permanent pastures. 



93. Adaptation. Meadow fescue is about equally adapted to 

 pasture or meadow, although in the timothy region it is inferior 

 to the latter in yield of hay. It does not have the marked tufted 

 habit of orchard grass, nor the strongly stoloniferous or creeping 

 habit of Kentucky blue grass, but stands with timothy some- 

 what between these two extremes. Nevertheless it makes a 

 compact leafy sod, and as a pasture was found at Cornell to be 

 distinctly more palatable to cattle than timothy if, indeed, it did 



