next score of years sheep and wool, mutton and early lambs will be as well 

 known products of southern agriculture as cotton is at the present time. 

 The establishment of Bermuda grass pastures for the purpose of carrying 

 sheep, supplemented by pastures of winter grasses, will work an indus- 

 trial revolution in the South. This would bring about a realization of un- 

 told wealth. It is a prize well worth contending for to be the largest pro- 

 ducers in the world of two of the most important fibres for clothing the 

 population of the globe. They form the basis of the most numerous and 

 most useful industrial establishments in the world, which give employ- 

 ment to a larger number of people than any other manufactories. A 

 larger part of this cotton and wool should be manufactured where pro- 

 duced. 



SMOOTH BROME GRASS (Bromus inermis.} (Hay and Pasturage.) 



About 1880, the Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station of 

 California introduced this pe- 

 rennial grass into that state 

 from Europe. It is stolznifer- 

 ous like Bermuda grass and 

 soon makes a thick turf. It 

 seems to be adapted to every 

 climate from Canada to Ten- 

 nessee, and was grown suc- 

 cessfully at the Experiment 

 Station at Knoxville. It re- 

 sists droughts and cold equal- 

 ly well and thrives upon dry, 

 loose soils and so may be well 

 adapted to the Cumberland 

 mountain region. It grows, 

 * however, more vigorously 

 upon good soils. It is difficult 

 to exterminate, but not so 

 much so as Bermuda or John- 

 son grass. It possibly may 

 supply a want on the gravelly soils of East Tennessee and of the siliceous 

 soils of the highland rim. Its introduction, however, is attended with 

 some risk. It remains green the greater part of the winter and is desira- 

 ble as a winter pasture. It is said to be low in its nutritive elements. A 

 bushel of seed weighs 14 pounds and sells for $20 to $22 per hundred 

 pounds. As three bushels of seed are required for one acre, it is hardly 

 probable that the grass will receive much attention from the farmers of 

 Tennessee. It is one of those grasses of questionable value that may 

 prove an enemy rather than a friend to the farmer. If in its habits it at all 

 resembles its kindred grass, cheat, (Bromus secalinus} its introduction 

 would be altogether injurious to the best interests of agriculture. 



Smooth Brome Grass Bromus inermis. 



'2. Panicle. 3. Upper leaf. 4. Spikelet. 5. Empty 



glumes. 6, 7. Floral glume. 



