50 



the preceding, but is much taller, the culms beiug3 to 6 feet high, stout and reed- like ; 

 the leaves long, rigid, and becoming involute, with a long, thread-like point. The 

 panicle is quite variable, from 4 to 16 inches long, at first rather close, but becoming 

 open and spreading, the branches in the smaller forms being 2 or 3 inches long, and 

 in the larger ones often 10 or 12 inches and widely spreading. It is abundant on the 

 plains of western Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado, and furnishes a resource in winter 

 for food for the cattle of the ranches. 



(Plate 53.) 



HOLCUS. 



Spikelets two-flowered, crowded in an open panicle, the lower flower perfect, the 

 upper one male only, and with a minute, hairy rhachilla or rudiment at its base. 

 Outer glumes nearly equal, compressed, membranaceous, large (fully inclosing the 

 two flowers), flowering glumes half shorter, the lowest awuless, the upper with a 

 short dorsal awn. 



Holcus laiiatus (Velvet Grass; Velvet Mesquite; Soft Grass, etc.). 



Introduced from Europe and naturalized in many parts of the United 

 States. It makes a striking and beautiful appearance, but stock are not 

 very fond of it, either green or cured. It is a perennial, but not very 

 strongly rooted, and does not spread from the root as do most perennial 

 grasses. It seeds abundantly, and is generally propagated by seed, 

 though sometimes by dividing the plants. It prefers low land, but does 

 very well even on sandy upland, and its chief value is in being able to 

 grow on land too poor for other grasses. 



The seed has been in market many years, but it has come into culti- 

 vation very slowly, and it is not generally held in very high esteem as 

 an agricultural grass, either in this country or in Europe. Some speak 

 well of it, however, and it has frequently been sent to the Department 

 from the South, with strong recommendations for its productiveness. 



C. Meuelas, Savannah, Ga. : 



Known almost all over the South as yielding more than orchard grass, but for some 

 reason only grown where nature has planted it. 



Mrs. J. W. Bryan, Dillon, northwestern Georgia: 



My meadows and ditches are full of it, though it is not sown here. It is very valu- 

 able for pasture, and gives a very early and heavy yield of hay. 



L. S. Nicholson, Oruinly, northeastern Alabama: 



This grass has been grown on a farm I own for about ten years. It does best on 

 rich, moist land, but grows fairly well on poor, dry, sandy laud, where other and, I 

 must say, better grasses fail. 



It grows from 2 to 3 feet high, and makes apparently sufficient hay, but very light 

 and chaffy and of inferior quality. It appears to be hardy and will withstand drought 

 well. The grass is right pretty when growing, and nice for pasturing, but we have 

 other grasses so much better that can generally be grown on land that this would 

 occupy that I shall vote against it for all purposes. 



Clarke Lewis, CliftonviJle, Miss. : 



It grows on poor, sandy land to a height of 3 to 4 feet ; stauds drought well, but 

 can be killed by a slight overflow. It is valuable as a soiling plant, but makes infe- 

 rior hay. It is an annual, and if intended for a permanent meadow must be cut only 

 once, and then allowed to reseed itself. 



