322 



FIELD CROPS 



often prostrate or decumbent at the base and root freely 

 at the nodes where they come in contact with the soil. 

 The basal and culm leaves are both quite numerous. The 

 flowers are borne in an open, branching panicle which 



, , contains many one-flowered 



spikelets. / The grass may be 

 distinguished from Kentucky 

 blue grass, which it resembles 

 to some extent, by its one- 

 flowered spikelets, later flow- 

 ering, and the reddish or 

 purplish color of the glumes. 

 It comes into flower about 

 six weeks later than blue 

 grass. The grain, which is 

 only about one-twenty-fifth 

 of an inch long, is enclosed 

 in the flowering glume, which 

 is about one and one-half 

 times as long as the grain. 

 The seed weighs about 12 

 pounds to the bushel before 

 it is separated from the outer 

 glumes; recleaned seed may 

 weigh as much as 36 pounds 

 to the bushel. 



Fig. 100. 



Redtop, a good grass for 

 wet lands. 



403. Importance. Redtop 

 probably ranks next to timo- 

 thy in importance as a hay grass over the region where 

 timothy is grown. Its range, however, is wider than that 

 of either timothy or blue grass, and it is most important 

 where those grasses are sparingly grown. It thrives in New 

 England, as far south as the northern end of the Gulf states, 



