MORE ABOUT WEEDS 



143 



Quack Grass (called, also: Couch grass, Quitch grass, 

 Quick grass, Wheat grass, Dog grass, Tommy grass, 

 Triticum r e p e n s), 

 Agropyrum repens. 

 Quack grass has 

 some excellent quali- 

 ties as a fodder plant. 

 It is said to surpass 

 timothy in nutritive 

 value, but, when it 

 takes possession of 

 the soil, nothing else 

 can be grown. It 

 puts out strong un- 

 derground stems, 

 which root and send 

 up new stems at their 

 joints. These under- 

 ground stems often 

 show their power by 

 growing through po- 

 tatoes or bits of 

 wood that chance to 

 lie in their path. 

 They form a stiff sod 

 that often severely 

 tries the muscles of 

 the plowman's team. Branches do not usually come from 

 every joint, but if the stems are broken or cut in pieces, 

 as with a plow, hoe or harrow, each piece sends up a stem 

 and leaves from any joint it may have, and becomes a 



FIG. 80. Quack grass. 



