PERENNIAL, FORAGE GRASSES 93 



The standard of purity should be 95 per cent., and of germina- 

 tion 75 per cent., although commercial seed is frequently much 

 lower in germinating power. 



Meadow fescue is harvested for seed with a self-binder as 

 soon as or just before seed begins to shatter and is threshed 

 with an ordinary grain thresher. It is then re-cleaned with a 

 sand sieve or fanning mill. While in some cases 700 to 900 

 pounds of seed per acre are obtained, 150 to 250 pounds per 

 acre are considered satisfactory. 



There are about 300,000 seeds to the pound. Fifty pounds of 

 seed per acre are considered necessary, when sown alone. It 

 is only recommended, however, for seeding in mixtures for 

 pastures, at the rate of two to five pounds per acre. 



III. SMOOTH BROME GRASS 



95. Relationships. Smooth brome grass; Hungarian brome 

 grass (Bromus inermis Leyss.). This species is called smooth 

 or awnless brome grass because it is distinguished from other 

 forms of the genus Bromus by the absence of the awn on the 

 flowering glume. This grass is closely related to cheat or chess 

 (Bromus secalinus L.), from which it differs in being strongly 

 perennial, while chess is a fall annual. (C. A. 139) Chess 

 is rarely grown for hay. Fair yields may be obtained, but the 

 quality is rather inferior. Schrader's brome grass (B. unioloides 

 (Willd.) H. B. K.) was formerly extensively advertised under 

 the name of rescue grass as a winter grass for the cotton states, 

 and is now occasionally sown for winter pasture. Except in 

 the extreme south, it does not, according to Spillman, possess 

 for this purpose any advantages over the cereals. There is a 

 large number of species of the genus Bromus growing in dif- 

 ferent parts of the United States, some of which perhaps 

 deserve further study with a view to their introduction as 

 cultivated plants. 



