BULLETIN 545, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

 TABLE 1. Chemical analysis of mountain bunch grass and timothy hay. 



It will be seen that there is comparatively little difference in the 

 iiutritiousness of mountain bunch grass at the time the flower stalks 

 are being produced and immediately after the seed crop has ripened. 

 The greatest difference in the important constituents is found in the 

 ether extract (fat), which is 27.21 per cent greater in the younger 

 plants. This is partly offset by the fact that there is 7.68 per cent 

 more protein (muscle making nutrients) in the matured plants. The 

 latter also contain 4.96 per cent more crude fiber than the young 

 plants, the most indigestible portion of the forage. In the matured 

 flower stalks the protein (nitrogen) and the ether extract (fat) are 

 very low, while the indigestible (crude fiber) material is very high. 

 This fact explains in part why the flower stalks are not grazed at 

 maturity. 



Investigations have shown that well-cured grasses yield as much 

 nutriment as the same grasses when green. 1 There is this distinction, 

 however, that ordinarily the cured forage is not as palatable as the 

 green. But since about half of the basal leaf blades remain green 

 until the end of the grazing season, the palatability and nutritive 

 qualities of mountain bunch grass remain comparatively high after 

 seed maturity. 



A plant closely related to the one discussed is blue bunch grass 

 (F. idahoensis). Being confined almost entirely to lands of medium 

 elevation, and the herbage having a distinctly bluish color and the 

 awns on the culms and lemmas being about twice the length of those 

 of mountain bunch grass, the two are readily distinguished even 

 though both are distinctly bunch grasses. 



The flower stalks of blue bunch grass begin to show about the first 

 week in June in the typical (yellow-pine) habitat and they continue 

 to be produced until about August 1 . The seed matures, for the most 

 part, between June 25 and August 15. The seed tested for germina- 

 tion show a viability of from 11 to 21 per cent. 



Blue bunch grass furnishes excellent forage for all classes of stock 

 from early spring until the early part of August, when it begins to 

 mature and the leaf blades become somewhat tough and dry. Even 

 at that time it is grazed to a greater or less extent by cattle and horses, 

 but only to a limited extent by sheep. All stock, however, relish 



i Wolff, E., Farm Foods, 1896, English edition, p. 155. 



