THE GRASS FAMILY 25 



The cut thus taken may be of value as fodder and the increased 

 market value of the clover seed will more than repay the cost 

 of the labour. Bare stubble should be plowed shallow or disced 

 to prevent the further ripening of seed directly after the grain 

 crop is removed. Frequent and clean cultivation of hoed crops 

 is needed to prevent Foxtail becoming established. The hoe 

 should also be used to destroy late plants after cultivation of 

 the crops becomes impracticable. Any practice that will 

 prevent this annual from seeding will reduce and ultimately 

 eradicate it. 



ALLIED SPECIES: Yellow Foxtail (Setaria glauca (L.) 

 Beauv.) Very similar to Green Foxtail. The branches, 

 however, are more spreading, the whole plant is rather larger 

 and more succulent, the spikes less compound and slenderer, 

 with larger seeds. The bristles of the spike are distinctly yellow. 

 The young plant has a broad pale-green leaf and the base of the 

 stem shows a characteristic yellow colour. 



The seeds are similar to those of Green Foxtail but larger. They 

 are a common impurity in all kinds of grass and clover seeds, 

 seed grain and feeding stuffs. Like most of the millets, they 

 require a warm soil for growth, and the Foxtail plants are not 

 much in evidence during the early spring months. 



Closely allied to the Foxtails are the widely distributed 

 Panic grasses (Panicum). While they are of various habits of 

 growth, they differ essentially from the Foxtails by the absence 

 of the persistent bristles below the florets. 



The seeds of all of them have similar characteristics, such 

 as the free grain enclosed in the horny scales, the margins of the 

 outer one being more or less enrolled. 



Most common in our crops is Old-witch Grass (Panicum 

 capillare L.), a stout annual with hairy leaves and a large loosely 

 spreading panicle about half the length of the whole plant. 



The seed (Plate 72, fig. 1) is about 1/16 of an inch long, 

 spindle-shaped in outline, highly shiny, olive green, with white 

 parallel nerves, more yellowish when unripe. It occurs often 

 and in large quantities in the seeds of timothy and other grasses. 



