58 A MANUAL OF FARM GRASSES 



Botanical Name. Phleum pratense L. The genus 

 Phleum includes several species of the Old World that 

 are of no importance agriculturally. One species, moun- 

 tain timothy (P. alpinum L.), is found in mountain 

 regions of both Europe and North America. This is of 

 some importance as a forage grass in mountain meadows. 

 Phleum is an ancient Greek name for a kind of reed but 

 was applied by Linnaeus to the genus of grasses de- 

 scribed above. The specific name pratense means grow- 

 ing in meadows. 



BLUEGRASS 



Bluegrass is the most important pasture grass in 

 America. It does not thrive throughout the United 

 States, however, but only in those regions which furnish 

 the proper conditions. These conditions are a cool, 

 moist climate and a fertile soil rich in lime. The area 

 adapted to bluegrass is, in general, the humid region, 

 that is, the northeastern states south to Virginia and 

 west to eastern Kansas, extending south in the mountains 

 to northern Alabama, the northern Pacific Coast from 

 Puget Sound to California, and also many isolated areas 

 in the western mountains. The limitations mentioned 

 above are determined mainly by climatic conditions. 

 Bluegrass requires the moisture which is furnished in the 

 humid region by the summer rainfall. Its limits of cul- 

 tivation can be extended by the use of irrigation, but 

 even with artificial water supply, it will not thrive in the 

 southern states and in the arid region. Even in the 

 humid region, it may suffer from drouth in summer. In 

 eastern Kansas and other localities where summer 

 drouths are of frequent occurrence, bluegrass languishes 



