ORCHARD-GRASS, OAT-GRASS, BROME-GRASSES 185 



190. Sources of seed. Commercial seed of orchard- 

 grass is most largely grown in the United States .and in 

 New Zealand, but some seed is produced in Europe 

 (southern France, Germany, Hungary, Holland, etc.). 

 New Zealand seed is sometimes imported into the United 

 States in considerable quantity. No American experi- 

 ments, however, have been reported as to the relative 



FIG. 18. Mixture of seeds of orchard-grass (a), meadow fescue grass 

 (b) and English rye-grass (c). The orchard-grass seeds are distinguished 

 from the others by their slender, curved form. The meadow fescue and 

 rye-grass seeds are distinguished by the difference in the section of the 

 seed-cluster axis (rachilla segment) which each bears. (Enlarged.) 



yield obtained from seed from different sources. In plots 

 grown side by side in Virginia the New Zealand strain was 

 distinctly shorter and apparently inferior by about 20 

 per cent. 



Under Swiss conditions, Stebler reports that French 

 seed gives the most satisfactory results, but American is 

 scarcely inferior, though a little later ; in two out of five 

 trials the American outyielded the French strain. Seed 



