DESCRIPTION OF IMPORTANT GRASS FORAGE PLANTS 



is grown as a soiling crop. It is a perennial grass, but its roots are killed, 

 if the ground is frozen. It has short rhizomes from which immense 

 tufts of leafage are formed. It may be grown in Florida and the Gulf 

 states, where the climatic con- 

 ditions are favorable. It is not 

 unusual in Mexico to see burros 

 almost completely buried out of 

 sight,except theirears and noses, 

 with guinea grass, which is 

 being carried to the nearest 

 markets for sale. Sometimes 

 ox carts are used to convey the 

 guinea grass to the consumers. 

 Hay is also obtained from the 

 grass, although it is seldom 

 used for the purpose. Another 

 important species of Panicum is 

 P. miliaceum, the broom-corn 

 millet (Fig. 63). 



Foxtail Millet (Chaetochloa 

 italica}. This grass includes a 

 number of different types such 

 as the Hungarian (Fig. 64), 

 Aino, German and Siberian 

 millets. 



The following two grasses 

 are natives of the western 

 plains states. They were used 

 extensively by the wild herds 

 of buffalos and eaten by the 

 cattle upon a thousand ranches. 



They will figure largely in any FlG 64 _ A single plant of Hungarian millet 

 attempt at restocking the cattle (Chaetochloa italica). (After Vinail, H. Ar- 

 ranges with forage plants. 



Grama Grass (Bouteloua gracilis = B. oligostachya). This grass also 

 called blue grama is found on the plains and prairies from Manitoba and 

 Wisconsin to Mississippi, Arizona and Mexico. It is probably the most 

 important of the grama grasses, which include six weeks' grama (B. 



