190 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



on poor pasture lands and not in fields of tall oat-grass. 

 Under some conditions it has been found in Great Britain 

 troublesome as a weed. Some botanists have considered 

 that the bulbs are abnormal and produced by a parasite, 

 but the variety breeds true to seed. Stebler and Volkart 

 report that in small plots it yielded less than half as much 

 hay as tall oat-grass. 



Other varieties are subhirsuta with sparsely hairy 

 sheaths ; biaristata with both florets of each spikelet bear- 

 ing awns ; flavescens with the spikelets yellow instead of 

 pale green; and hermaphrodita with the spikelets some- 

 times 3-flowered, and all the florets perfect. 



200. Agricultural history. Tall oat-grass was ad- 

 vocated for culture by Kalm in Sweden in 1747. Accord- 

 ing to Schreber, however, it was first cultivated by Abbe 

 Miroudet in France, in 1760, but Stebler and Volkart state 

 that it was probably cultivated in southern France before 

 that time and it was commended by Stapf er for cultivation 

 in Switzerland in 1762. It was cultivated in Massachu- 

 setts as early as 1807 and in South Carolina in 1824. 



201. Adaptations. Tall oat-grass is adapted to 

 about the same climatic conditions as orchard-grass; 

 that is, it will not endure as much cold as timothy, but 

 will withstand greater summer heat. 



It is one of the most drought resistant of all cultivated 

 grasses, being excelled in this respect only by brome-grass 

 and western wheat-grass. Wet soils are distinctly in- 

 jurious and tall oat-grass will not endure on such land. 

 It does well under irrigation, provided the subsoil be well 

 drained. 



It thrives best on loose, deep loams and calcareous 

 soils, but succeeds also on sandy and gravelly soils. Per- 

 haps no other perennial grass will yield as well on very 



