CHAPTER X 



OTHER GRASSES OF SECONDARY IMPOR- 

 TANCE 



THE grasses discussed in this chapter are all important 

 in limited areas in America. Most of them thrive well 

 over wide regions in which they are little or not at all 

 used. With the increasing value and importance of grass 

 lands in general agriculture, their greater utilization in the 

 future scarcely admits of doubt. 



MEADOW FESCUE (Festuca elatior) 



225. Botany and history. Meadow fescue occurs 

 naturally over all of Europe and in much of temperate 

 Asia. The species is not very variable, but eight or more 

 varieties based on slight characters have been described 

 and named by botanists. From a botanical point of 

 view Festuca pratensis Hudson is considered identical 

 with F. elatior Linnaeus, but seedsmen use these names as 

 the equivalents, respectively, of two cultural varieties ; 

 namely, meadow fescue or English blue-grass, and tall 

 fescue. The former has also been known as Randall 

 grass in the South, but this name has sometimes been 

 applied to tall oat-grass, perhaps erroneously. 



Meadow fescue was first recommended for cultivation 

 by Kalm in Sweden in 1747. 



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