96 THE HANDBOOK FOE PEACTICAL FARMERS 



reaching to the height of four feet. It spreads by means of 

 underground stems and has a tendency to grow in tufts or mats 

 that gradually increase in diameter till in the course of time a 



dense sod is formed, after 

 which few culms are produced. 

 This grass is therefore better 

 suited for pastures than hay 

 meadows. It is not popular in 

 the timothy and clover region, 

 but it has an important place 

 in that part of the Northwest, 

 having dry and moderately 

 warm summer weather. It is 

 grown chiefly in the Dakotas 

 and northward and westward. 

 On account of its deep root 

 system it produces summer 

 pasturage when shallow-rooted 

 grasses are dried up. 



Seeds and seeding^. — The 

 seed usually weighs only four- 

 teen pounds per bushel, but 

 may vary in weight from twelve 

 to twenty pounds per bushel. 

 For hay, a bushel of seed usu- 

 ally is sown, but for pasture 

 twice that would not be too 

 much, since the brome grass 

 would in that case form a sod 

 sooner. Under semi-arid con- 

 ditions, it is usually sowti in 

 the spring without a nurse 

 crop. If grown in the timothy 

 and clover region, it may be 

 sown at the same time and 

 manner as orchard grass. 



Value. — In the semi-arid re- 

 gions of the Northwest this 

 grass is one of the most im- 

 portant pasture grasses, withstanding dry weather better than 

 any other cultivated grass and at the same time producing a 

 most palatable pasturage. As a hay crop it reaches its maxi- 

 mum growth the third year, after which the yield decreases 



Fig. 



26. — Canada blue grass. — Farmers 

 Bulletin J,02. 



