152 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



to cultivation in the warmest portions of the Southwest and might 

 well be grown more extensively in southern California and Arizona. 

 If rooted cuttings are planted over the range immediately following 

 heavy rains, when the soil is wet enough to fairly start the plants, it 

 will undoubtedly become a valuable addition to the range forage. 

 This saltbush produces a great amount of seed in the driest seasons, 

 resembling in this characteristic most native desert plants. The 

 seeds germinate readily when sown on moist soils. Rusby's Sedge 

 (Cyperus rusbyi) . A perennial sedge of southern New Mexico and 

 Arizona. Very slender, but yielding a considerable amount of large 

 and heavy seed; this sedge was formerly very abundant, but it is 

 now mostly to be found only in the upper canyons where inaccessible 

 to cattle. All kinds of stock are fond of the ripe seeds. 



Sainfoin (Onobrychis saliva). A deep-rooting, perennial leg- 

 ume, extensively cultivated in the temperate portions of Europe 

 on dry, calcareous soils which are too barren for clover or alfalfa. 

 The stems are erect or ascending, 1 to 2 feet high, ribbed and downy, 

 the leaves unequally pinnate, composed of 6 to 12 pairs of opposite 

 leaflets, with an odd terminal one. A permeable, well-drained sub- 

 soil is essential for its growth. Like alfalfa, it is quickly killed 

 whenever the ground becomes saturated with water, and is therefore 

 not suited for growth in wet meadows or in marshy lands. There is 

 no better plant for growing on barren hills, but it does better on the 

 sunny slopes than on those facing north. It is rather difficult to 

 establish, as the plants are easily killed when young, but when once 

 well rooted, sainfoin will live from twenty to twenty-five or some- 

 times a hundred years, provided the soil is rich enough. One crop 

 of hay can be cut each year. It should be cut at the time of full 

 bloom. Saleratus Weed (Salicornia herbacea). A low, fleshy, 

 leafless herbaceous plant, growing in the borders of salt marshes from 

 Arizona to the Saskatchewan, and along the Atlantic coast. It occurs 

 on soils too salty or too alkaline to support any other plant. In por- 

 tions of the Southwest it is valued highly for winter feed. After 

 frost stock live almost entirely upon saleratus weed, winter fat, sage- 

 brush, green sage, and the native salt-bushes, depending more on 

 these than on the grasses. Sand Spurrey (Spergula arvensis) . An 

 annual, producing a low, tangled mass of succulent stems with num- 

 erous whorled linear leaves. It produces a crop in eight or ten weeks, 

 and is valuable as a catch crop in short seasons, and for soiling sheep 

 and milch cows. Serradella (Ornithopus sativus). An annual 

 legume, which is valuable as a fodder plant on moist and sandy 

 sterile soils. At the Pennsylvania Station the yield from two cut- 

 tings was 11 1/2 tons of green forage. It does not require lime, and is 

 often used as a green manure to bring up the value of sterile fields. 

 The forage, which is much relished by cattle and sheep, has about the 

 same feeding value as red clover, but the yield is usually much less. 

 Scouring Rush (Equisetum laevigatum) . The most common scour- 

 ing rush of the prairies and Rocky Mountain region ; the plants are 

 less harsh than the Eastern forms ; when young, the stems are greedi- 

 ly eaten by cattle and horses. Seaside Arrow-grass (Triglochin 



