186 



ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



In midsummer it makes a poor growth. The seed is ex- 

 pensive and is often poor in quality. The method of cur- 

 ing the seed is such that it is often spoiled by heating. 



One to ten pounds per acre are 

 used in seeding pastures. It is 

 sometimes adulterated with Canada 

 blue -grass (Poa comprawa), also 

 called wire grass. The latter is a 

 less desirable grass, except for very 

 poor soils. 



173. Red-top (Agrostis alba) is 

 second in importance to timothy as 

 a hay plant. It does not make as 

 FIG. 93. (i) Kentucky blue- popu i ar a hay as timothv. If much 



grass. (2) Canada blue-grass 



of it is mixed with timothy hay, the 



price is reduced. The chief value of red-top is that it will 

 grow on soils that are too wet, too acid, or too poor for 

 the growth of timothy. It is a shallow-rooted, strongly 

 stoloniferous plant. It will produce hay or pasture the 

 year after seeding. The seed is not expensive and is usually 

 good. Recleaned seed weighs about 35 pounds per bushel. 

 About 15 pounds is sown per acre. 



174. Awnless Brome Grass (Bromus inermis) has been 

 introduced from the plains of Russia recently. It is 

 strongly stoloniferous and will produce one or two good 

 crops of hay, after which the sod becomes too dense for 

 hay and is adapted to pasture. It makes a very pala- 

 table pasture grass. It has proved its value in the 

 semi-arid regions. In the East, it has not been thoroughly 

 tested, but seems promising. 



175. Tall Meadow Fescue (Festuca elatior) is a 



