53 



moved. The hay is sweet but light, and stock seem to prefer it to any 

 other when cut early before the seeds harden. It will not shed rain very 

 well and it should be cut during a dry spell. It cures rapidly and unless 

 very rank it may be hauled in and stored away the next day after it is 

 mowed. It may be stacked in the open fields but the stacks must be 

 capped with herd's grass or timothy hay. The hay is sometimes gath- 

 ered by pulling it up from between the corn rows. This is a tedious task 

 but not more so than the pulling of fodder. Crab grass furnishes more 

 hay for home use in the Gulf states than any other grass. It is usually 

 cut in August or September, and even as late as October. 



Mr. Sinclair says that the clean seed, when boiled in milk, makes a 

 dish resembling sago. It has been used as a substitute for sago in Ger- 

 many, and is really cultivated for that purpose in some districts. 



BLUE GRASS JUNE GRASS (Poa pratensis. ) (Pasture Grass.) 



This is a perennial grass and is well styled the king of all the pasture 



grasses. It is very choice, however, in the selection of soils and situation. 



Kentucky Blue Grass Poa pratensis. 

 2. Panicle. 3. Upper leaf . 4. Spikelet. 

 5. Empty glumes. 



Spikelet of Blue Grass, 

 showing seed. 



Wherever it plants itself the land advances rapidly in price and it becomes 

 the breeder's ideal home. Blue grass indeed has no rival within the limits 

 of its growth. All other grasses that make inroads upon its territory are 

 regarded as intruders. Whoever has blue grass is possessed of the key 

 to fortune. Stock breeders depending upon other grasses may do well. 

 The stock breeder in the blue grass region can hardly fail to do well. 



SOILS The best blue grass soils in Tennessee and Kentucky are 

 the calcareous loams of the Trenton formation. In Tennessee these soils 

 prevail in the central basin. There are parts of East Tennessee, where 

 the Trenton limestone abounds, that will also grow blue grass well. 



