AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 93 



Oil, 1.77 Amylaceous cellulose, 24.21 



Wax, .50 Alkali extract, 8.75 



Sugars, 9.68 Albuminoids, 7.28 



Gum and dextrin, 5.74 Ash, 8.75 



Cellulose, 33.32 



100.00 



ASH. 



Potassium, 4.62 Phosphoric acid, 5.18 



Potassium oxide, 21.65 Silicic acid, 48.60 



Calcium oxide, 5.91 Chlorine, 4.20 



Magnesium oxide, 3.13 .. ... ^ 



Sulphuric acid. 6.71 100.00 



16. P. PROLIFERTJM, Prolific, or Sprouting Crab Grass, in 

 favorable, moist situations, with many creepir ^sterns rooting 

 at the joints, throws up a large number of thick; "succulent, ten- 

 der, sweet, geniculate, much branched stems from three to sev- 

 en feet high, with lateral and terminal, diffuse panicles. The 

 broad leases and panicles vary in length from six inches to two 

 feet. It grows vigorously from mid-summer till frost; admit- 

 ting several mowings and yielding a large quantity of excellent, 

 but somewhat coarse hay, requiring, as alLsucculent large plants, 

 care and time to cure well. Horses and cattle eat it ravenously 

 at all times, green or dry. I esteem it as a very valuable 

 grass and worthy of much attention. Although naturally pre- 

 ferring river and creek bottoms and even brackish marshes, yet it 

 grows luxuriantly on hill sides and tops, and late in the fall in 

 moist cultivated fields. Where cattle have free access to it at 

 all times, they keep it eaten so closely as not to allow seeds to 

 mature. It should not only be protected, but cultivated as more 

 valuable and much more promising than many other forage 

 plants of inferior worth now receiving great attention and care. 

 It delights in and needs rich land, as do all very valuable for- 

 age grasses. 



17. P. TEXANUM, Texas Panic Grass is perhaps the most 

 beautiful of all the many species of Panicum. In habit it is 

 much like crab grass, more branched, with more abundant and 

 broader leaves the latter |- to 1 inch wide and six to eight 

 inches long. The whole plant is tender, nutritious and highly 

 relished in both green and dry state by live stock. Its growth 

 is luxuriant and rapid, the stems attaining a length of three to 

 five feet and the yield of forage is very large. The analysis 

 made by Mr. Collier as published in the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment Report for 1878 is as follows : 



Oil, 1.98 Amylaceous cellulose, 20.64 



Wax, .56 Alkali extract, 18.43 



Sugars, 12.49 Albuminoids, 5.61 



Gum and dextrin, 5.98 Ash, 6.63 



Cellulose, 27.68 



1DOJOO 



