(50) 



become tall, will turn over and form a roof or covering to young 

 grass that grows under them all the winter, and stock will paw at 

 it until the covering removed, they get to the young succulent 

 shoots thus kept alive throughout our short winters. A detailed 

 description of these wild grasses, while it might interest the student, 

 would be out of place in a work of this kind, intended to be en- 

 tirely practical ; for, however much they may be used in their 

 indigenous situation, there is no probability of the farmer ever 

 getting them transferred to his fields. The grasses we here treat 

 of as pasture grasses, are alone those that will bear sowing in new 

 situations, and to this class we will strictly adhere. For a more 

 detailed description of the others, I refer the reader to the work 

 sent out from this Bureau on the " Grasses of Tennessee." 

 With this explanation we will describe the subjoined. 



NIMBLE WIIjIi.(Muhlenbergia diffusa.) 



It is hardly necessary to do more than mention this grass, which 

 forms, in many sections, the bulk of the pastures of the woods. It 

 does not grow in fields, but in woods, where, in the fall, after rains 

 have set in, it carpets the earth with living green. Various opin- 

 ions are entertained as to its nutritive qualities. Some farmers 

 contend that their stock are fond of it, and, on a sufficient range, 

 cattle, horses and sheep will go into the winter sleek and fat from 

 this vigorous grass. Others regard it as wellnigh worthless. 



It freely propagates itself in all woods where the covering of 

 leaves is not so great as to exclude the rays of the sun from the soil. 

 Like other grasses, it does best on good lands, and the rich, black, 

 loamy woods in many parts of the State are set with it. 



It is said to be an excellent butter-making grass, and gives a 

 particularly fine flavor to this article of food. It has never, to the 

 knowledge of the writer, been sown, though, as it produces seed in 

 a limited quantity, there is no reason why it should not be, if it is 

 really a valuable grass. 



BERMUDA GRASS. SCUTCH GRASS. (Cynodon dactylon.) 



Bermuda grass is a native of the West Indias, and is the princi- 

 pal grass of that torrid country. It has only lately been brought 

 into notice as a valuable pasture grass for this State. In Louisiana, 

 Texas and the South generally, it is, and has beeo the chief reli- 

 ance for pasture for a long time, and the immense herds of cattle 



