NOKTH -CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY. 155 



Amount of inorganic elements removed in a ton of hay, 

 235 pounds. 



TRIBE IV. STIPACEAE. 



Spikelets one flowered ; inferior paleae awned ovarium stip- 

 itate. This tribe contains only wild plants. 



TRIBE V. AGROSTIDEAE. 



Spikelets one flowered. 



Agrostis; glume naked and beardless; two valved; one 

 flowered ; valves longer than the paleae ; paleae two, mem- 

 branaceous ; stigmas longitudinally hispid. 



AGROSTIS VULGARIS. RED TOP FINE TOP. DEW-GRASS, HERDS- 

 GRASS, OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



Spikelets one flowered, glume naked, beardless, 2 valved, 

 valves longer than the paleae, paleae membranaceous. 



It grows erect, slender, with round smooth stems, wearing 

 an oblong panicle ; the roots are creeping. This grass, with 

 many others of the genus agrostis, has received the name of 

 'bent-grass^ by the English ; here it is always called herds-grass. 

 It is one of the most common of the field grasses, and is not 

 so particular in its selection of the soil in which to grow, as it 

 is found growing spontaneously in wet and dry meadows, as 

 well as upon the dry hill side. It is regarded as possessed at 

 least of medium qualities. There is probably no well cured 

 hay which spends better than red top, and it is relished by 

 stock. 



The soil best suited to red top is one which is moderately 

 moist. This grass is comparatively small, and hence does not 

 yield so much hay to the acre, but it forms a dense bottom, 

 and if fed close, it makes an excellent pasturage ; if allowed 

 to grow up to stalk, cattle do not crop the stems, or do not 

 seem to relish them. Its average height is about 16 inches, 

 but on rich soils it is twenty, and even thirty inches, and col- 

 ored with a strong tinge of purple. On poor soils, it is found 

 as low or short as six or eight inches, and is lighter colored. 

 Some regard this dwarfed variety as distinct from the large red 

 top of rich soils, and it frequently goes under the name of 

 fine top. 



It flowers here in June, and in Massachusetts in July. In 



