76 



It has an abundance of foliage, and sends up a flowering culm 2 to 3 

 feet high, which is terminated by a close, narrow spike of flowers from 

 3 to 6 inches long. This spike consists of a succession of closely set 

 spikelets, one at each joint of the axis, and placed flatwise with the side 

 against the stalk. Each spikelet contains several (three to eight) flow- 

 ers, with a pair of nearly equal and opposite three to five-nerved glumes 

 at the base. 



Hon. J. S. Gould says : 



The farmers of the United States unite in one continuous howl of execration against 

 this grass, and it seems strange, when every man's hand is against it, that it is not 

 exterminated. Yet, we could never really satisfy ourselves that its presence in 

 meadows and pastures was such an unmitigated curse. In lands where alternate 

 husbandry is practiced it must be admitted to be an evil of great magnitude. Its 

 hardiness is such, and its rapidity of growth is so great, that it springs up much more 

 rapidly than any other crop that can be planted, and chokes it. Still, it has many 

 virtues. It is perfectly cosmopolitan in its habits. It is found in all sorts of soil and 

 climates. Its creeping roots are succulent and very nutritive, and are greedily de- 

 voured by horses and cows. 



(Plate 88.) 



Agropymm tenerum. 



This grass prevails in the Rocky Mountain region from New Mexico 

 to Oregon, and has been commonly called a variety of Agropyrum re- 

 pens, from which it differs essentially in wanting the running root stalks, 

 in a narrower, nearly cylindrical spike, and in growing in clumps. It 

 occurs mostly in low, moist grounds, and, like the Agropyrum glaucum, 

 it is one of the best grasses for hay. It ripens in July, and affords very 

 little feed thereafter. 



HORDEUM. 



Inflorescence a dense spike, with two or three spikelets at each joint of the notched 

 rhachis ; spikelets one-flowered, with an awl-shaped rudiment of a second flower, the 

 central spikelet of the cluster perfect and sessile, the lateral ones short-stalked and 

 imperfect or abortive ; outer glumes side by side, two to each spikelet, usually slender 

 and awn-pointed, or bristle form ; flowering glume herbaceous, shorter, oblong, or 

 lanceolate, rounded on the back, not keeled, five-nerved, acute or long-awned ; palet 

 shorter, two-keeled. 



Hordeum jubatum (Wild Barley ; Squirrel-tail Grass). 



On the sea-coast and saline soil in the interior, especially on the Rocky 

 Mountains. It has no agricultural value, but its long-barbed awns are 

 injurious to the mouths of cattle. 



Hordeum murinum. 



Professor Brewer states that this grass, unfortunately, is extensively 

 naturalized in California and is a vile pest ; it comes in when laud is 

 overstocked; is known there as "squirrel grass," " squirrel tail," u fox- 

 tail," and "white oats." The heads break up and the barbed seeds 

 work into the wool of sheep and even into the flesh of lambs, killing 

 them. It damages the eyes and throats of animals. 



