152 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[October, 1S90. 
manj instances, retained tlieir native tribal habits, 
likes and dislikes, feuds, etc. We liad an old negro 
in our family for several years who Iwd been cap- 
tured and brought over by a slaver when he was 
quite a well-grown man. He had a great antipathy 
to Guinea negroes, and never missed an opportunity 
to show his contempt for "Ginny nigga'," saying, 
among other things concerning them, that they 
were " wusser'n po' buckra," (worse than poor white 
trash). He always called the peanut "gooba," 
while to the negroes generally it was a "pinder" or 
"pinda'." — Frank L. James, St. Louis, Mo. 
266. A Half Hour With a Pair of White- 
Bellied Nuthatches. — I experienced a great deal 
of pleasure, one day in April, in watching the oper- 
ations of a pair of nuthatches, notwithstanding the 
fact that there was a slight rain and cold wind. 
The pair were apparently in search of their dinner. 
The loving attention and diligence of the male bird 
were worthy of commendation and imitation. The 
birds were in an old apple orchard, and were run- 
ning up and down the branches of the trees, looking 
in every notch and crevice, and under the pieces 
of loose bark, in search of insects or their larva 
or pupa. After a diligent search on the trunk of a 
tree, the male found something which he thought 
worthy of his attention. The tact and skill which 
he exhibited in securing this choice viand was quite 
surprising. He drove his bill into the hard bark 
with great force and rapidity, frequently uttering his 
low, piping note, and changing his position as often 
as an opportunity offered for gaining any advantage. 
After a few moments of diligent hammering he 
succeeded in getting the choice morsel, which must 
have been the chrysalis of some insect, as I found 
part of a cocoon fast to the tree, at the point where 
he had been at work. What do you suppose he did 
as soon as he had obtained this hard-earned bit 
of food.' He flew directly to another branch of the 
tree, where his mate was at work, placed the morsel 
in her open bill, and started oflf in search of another. 
He worked in this way for the half hour that I 
watched them, and I know not how long before, 
bringing everything that he found and giving it to 
his companion. I saw him give her something five 
or six times; the last time I stood within ten or 
twelve feet of them. The gallant little fellow came 
from a neighboring tree with some food which he 
had found, and alighted beside his mate, who imme- 
diately opened her mouth and received the food, and 
informed him that she had sufficient by sitting down 
upon the limb and trying to make herself comforta- 
ble. He seemed to understand her perfectly, for, 
instead of flying back to the tree from which he had 
. come, he flew to another branch a few feet distant 
and seated himself, all the while piping his low 
notes, which seemed to express perfect enjoyment. 
— L. O. P., Hickman, Ky. 
[Written for "The Out-Door World."] 
ABOUT GRASSES. 
BY ALFRED H. PETERS, 
Of the Agassis AssocUiiion. 
fConcludcd from September number.] . 
During the latter part of June flowers also the 
true blue grass, sometimes called wire grass, {I'oa 
compressa), (Fig. 5). This grass is a native, and 
belongs to the same genus as June grass, though it 
is in habit entirely different. It is a small grass, 
found in patches, generally upon the dry hillsides 
and sandy barrens of the Northern States. It 
appears to prefer a thin soil, and may be readily 
recognized by its flattened stalk and short, fine, 
deep-green blades, which, seen when the dew is on 
them, are actually blue. The stalks are seldom 
above a foot in height, and creep more or less from 
Fig. S- 
Blue or Wire Grass, 
Poa compi'essa. 
the root. They are flattened, unlike any other in 
the order, and are enclosed in 
heavy sheaths, the last one of 
which extends nearly up to the 
head. This protection, together 
with its creeping habit, keeps 
the stalk fresh and green during 
the whole season, making the 
grass much appreciated by cattle, 
which crop it short, both stalk 
and blade, where\er found. The 
flower-head is very small, and 
the blossom of a greenish-white 
color. So much darker is this 
grass than any other that one 
standing upon a pastured slope 
may, in the right light, dis- 
tinguish its patches for rods 
away. Only its scantiness pre- 
vents it from being the most val- 
uable of all the pasturage grasses. 
The tall, rank-growing timo- 
thy — called also " herd's-grass" 
and "cat-tail grass" — {I'hleum 
pratense), (Fig. 6), is the best- 
known and most widely-culti- 
vated grass in the United States. 
Its stout, erect stalks, from two 
to four feet in height, crowned 
by the familiar cylindrical spike, shoot up on all 
sides wherever in summer the sound of the mower 
is heard or red clover blossoms are seen. The 
abundance of its long, glaucous, or grayish-green 
blades, which grow not only from the base but from 
halfway up the stalk, makes this grass especially 
valuable for hay. It is sown for this purpose more 
than are all the rest of the grasses put together, and 
the seed is an important article of commerce. It 
blossoms in the North during the last week in June 
and the first week of July, with a flower varying 
from lavender to greenish-yellow. Timothy has a 
peculiar bulb-like root, dif- 
ferent from all other of the 
common grasses, and is not, 
as some suppose, a native 
grass, but one very early 
naturalized from Europe. 
Along with timothy ap- 
pears "quick," "couch," or 
"quack" grass (Triticum 
repens), (Fig. 7), from its 
underground creepingstems 
and domestic habits, a par- 
ticular pest to gardeners. 
Although, like everything 
else, a nuisance when out 
of place, quick grass is not 
refused by cattle, either as 
pasturage or hay. It is 
often found in meadows and 
uplands, as well as in the 
garden, and on sandy slopes 
or along the beds of streams 
no doubt serves to hold the 
soil together by means of its 
multitudinous underground 
stems. It is a tall, coarse 
grass, of the same height 
and color as timothy, but in 
the shape of the blade and the flower-head more like 
the wheat plant, to which it is own cousin. The flower 
is yellow. Qiiick grass came to us from abroad, and in 
England, Irom the spry way in which its stems work 
through the earth, is sometimes called " nimble will." 
The last to mature of the pasturage grasses is the 
beautiful "red top," or "red bent," {AgrosUs oul- 
yaris), (Fig. 8). This hardy native grass, found 
throughout all the older States, is called "herds- 
grass" in some parts of the Union. The blades are 
long, narrow, sharply keeled, and of darker color 
than any other species save blue grass. The stalks 
are slender, and vary in height from one to three 
feet. By the first of July, in the North, the delicate, 
contracted flower-heads begin 
K to shoot up amid other spe- 
cies, at first of a pale-green 
tint, but, when fairly open, 
changing to purple. By the 
tenth of the month they are in 
lull bloom, the flower being 
very small and of a whitish- 
yellow shade. The panicle, 
or flower-head, is the finest in 
texture and the most graceful 
of all the pasturage grasses, 
becoming, after the flower is 
gone, of a brick-red color, 
whence the name. Red top is 
somewhat variable in habit, 
and is often mistaken tor June 
grass, with which, however, it 
has little in common but the 
shape of its blades. It makes 
excellent hay, and is much es- 
teemed tor pasturage, but does 
not appear to be relished by 
cattle like either June grass 
or blue grass. 
The foregoing grasses are 
all perennial. Shade and 
condition of the soil will cause them to deviate 
somewhat from the prevailing type, but never so 
much as to make them unrecognizable. In number 
though but a few only of the order, in quantity they 
are beyond estimate, and as animal food of the 
utmost importance. Our hay crop is of more value 
than our wheat crop, and both hay and pasturage 
together more than equal the value of our Indian 
n 
in 
Fig. 6. 
Timothy or Ilerd's-Grass, 
Phlium pratense. 
Fig. 7. 
Qiiick or Qiiack Grass, 
Triticum repens. 
.J^c"^'. 
Fig. S. 
Red Top, 
Agrostis vnlf/>iii^t 
corn. Our yards, woods, swamps, and stubbles 
contain numerous other species, some of which ai"e 
quite common and others very rare. Several Eng- 
lish grasses, like fox-tail, rye grass, etc., are also 
occasionally met with, hut neither the one nor the 
other of these would as pasturage or bay be missed 
this side the Mississippi. 
