152 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



also to America. In the cultivated form it was doubt- 

 less introduced at first from England. It was called 

 English grass by certain of the early writers. But this 

 grass is doubtless indigenous to certain low lands in all 

 or nearly all the Northern States from New England 

 westward to Dakota, more especially Michigan, Wiscon- 

 sin and Minnesota, and in some states south from 

 there. This fact has been disputed by some botanists, 

 but it cannot be successfully gainsaid. In Britain this 

 grass does not hold so high a place relatively among 

 the economic grasses as in America, and in the Northern 

 States it has never held so high a place relatively as in 

 those further South. This is probably owing to the 

 freer growth of certain other useful grasses in the North, 

 as timothy and blue grass. Red Top is very hardy. 

 In no part of the United States will it succumb to the 

 cold. It is also able to endure in Canada as far north 

 as cultivation has been carried. It would also seem 

 able to endure more heat than timothy or blue grass. 

 It does best under moist conditions and yet it has very 

 considerable power to endure drought. 



It would probably be correct to say, that no grass 

 in America is possessed of so wide a distribution. It 

 will grow iji one or the other of its forms in some por- 

 tion or portions of almost every state and territory in 

 the Union. In the South especially, it has a more gen- 

 eral distribution than any other grass. The moist cli- 

 mate of that region is favorable to its growth. It grows 

 best there in the river bottoms but will also grow high 

 up on the sides of the mountains. Notwithstanding the 

 favorable climatic and soil conditions, in considerable 



