Grains and Forage Crops 115 



stalks are not more than half an inch in diameter. This makes a 

 good coarse hay. If you have not water enough or the land does 

 not he right for flooding, you can grow the sorghum in drills and 

 irrigate by the furrow method, being careful, however, not to let 

 the crop go too far if you desire to feed it as hay. 



Teosinte. 



What about '-Teosinte," its food value, method of culture, and adapt- 

 ability to our climate, character of soil required^ 



Teosinte is a corn-like plant of much lower growth than Indian 

 corn. It may be of value as a forage plant on low, moist, interior 

 lands in the summer season. It is very sensitive to frost and is, 

 therefore, not a winter grower. It abhors drought and, therefore, is 

 not a plant for plains or hillsides. It was grown to some extent 

 in California 25 years ago and abandoned as worthless so far as tried. 



Bermuda Objectionable. 



Bermuda grass as pasture for summer to supplement burr clover and 

 alfilaria in zvinter on the cheap hill pasture lands along the coast or the 

 foothill ranges of the Sierras. Stock like it and do well on it, and I 

 have noticed it grozcing in places where it had no water but the little 

 rains of zvinter in southern California. So the question occurred to me, 

 why should it not be a profitable pasture for the dry summers on the 

 coast or foothill ranges of the State? 



Bermuda grass will not make summer growth enough on dry 

 pasture land to make it worth having. It will not make much growth 

 in the rainy season because of frost, and if it has possession of the 

 ground it will not allow either burr clover or alfilaria to make such 

 winter growth as they will on clean land. Besides, this grass is 

 generally counted a nuisance, because it will get into all the good 

 cultivated land and it is almost impossible of eradication. Bermuda 

 grass is of some account on alkali land where it finds moisture 

 enough for free growth. We would not plant it in any other situa- 

 tion. 



Rye Grasses Better than Brome. 



/ see in an Eastern seed catalogue "Bromus Inermis" very highly 

 spoken of as pasturage. Do you knozu anything of it, and do you think 

 it would be suitable for reclaimed tule land in the bay section f 



Both English and Italian rye grasses have proved better than 

 Bromus Inermis on such land as you mention. The latter is com- 

 monly known as Hungarian brome grass or awnless brome grass 

 and it was introduced to this State from Europe about 25 years ago 

 and the seed distributed by the University Experiment Station. Hun- 

 garian brome may be better on rather dry lands, although it will 

 not live through the summer on very dry lands in this State, but 

 we would rather trust the rye grasses on reclaimed lands, providing, 

 of course, that they are sufficiently free from salt to carry tame grass 



