GRASSES 207 



not be started well. Were it not for the fact that it is a 

 troublesome weed where not wanted, it would probably 

 rind more favor as a pasture grass. 



Salt-bushes (Airiplcx spp.), as noted in Chapter VI, 

 make an acceptable forage where the land is too alkaline 

 to permit successful growth of the better classes of forage 

 plants. There have been a number of attempts to intro- 

 duce these plants as cultivated crops for alkali land. The 

 Australian salt-bush (especially A. semibaccata) is said to 

 be well adapted to California conditions and to be easily . 

 propagated. Hilgard (13) regarded it as being one of the 

 most promising forage crops for alkali lands, being a quick- 

 growing and high- yielding plant as well as producing hay 

 which is readily eaten by all animals. It is not adapted 

 to climates with severe winters nor to places frequented by 

 summer fogs. It would be of little value outside of a mild 

 climate. Other varieties of salt-bushes have been tried for 

 the more severe interior country and, although where once 

 started, they yield a fairly large quantity of good forage, 

 these plants have received almost no recognition in a 

 practical way. They are so difficult to get started that 

 farmers will not take the trouble to plant them. 



Giant rye-grass (Elymus condensatus) is reported by 

 Hilgard (12) as being in about the same class as tussock 

 grass for alkali resistance (3000 to 31,000 parts per million 

 tussock). In its wild state it grows in large clumps, 

 but where sown at the rate of about twenty-five pounds 

 per acre it makes a rather uniform growth of coarse but 

 palatable grass or hay for sheep or cattle. When grown 

 on alkali land it generally contains considerable salt which 

 makes it somewhat laxative for horses. Although it is 

 at present not receiving much attention as a cultivated 

 crop, it should occupy more of the soils containing too 



