206 THE GRASSES OF TENNESSEE. 



pounds of grass, which lost 17,015 in drying, and afforded 

 2,126 pounds of nutritive matter. If these experiments arc 

 trustworthy, it seems that a clay soil produces 4,764 

 pounds more of dry hay to the acre than a black sandy 

 loam, and that 100 pounds of grass from it affords 6.3 

 pounds more of nutritive matter. If it is chemically true 

 that this grass yields so much more nutriment than timothy, 

 redtop, fescue and other favorite grasses, it is equally true 

 that the stomachs of cattle are not so organized that they 

 can extract it, and that it will not lay on anything like as 

 much flesh nor give as liberal a flow of milk." 



CANARY GnASS.~(Phalaris canarwnsis.) 



Spifc elete from five-sixteenths to six-sixteenths of an inch long, oval, 

 compressed closely, imbricated and beautifully variegated with green 

 and white, as shown in the illustration, where the dark part represents 

 the green shades. Glumes flattened, ovate, unequally distributed 

 about the central rib, about twice as long as the palea, clothed 

 with short appressed hairs, nerves with greenish margins. Ru- 

 dimentary flowers half the length of the perfect one, smooth 

 below, slightly hairy at the apex. Palese of the perfect flower 

 ovate lanceolate, hairy ; the lower one obscurely five nerved. 

 Panicle spike-like, with very short branches about one-seventh 

 of the length of the spikelets, oval, compact. Culm eight 

 to eighteen inches high, bearing three or four leaves. 

 Sheaths inflated, somewhat roughish. Ligule acute, the upper 

 one pointed. Leaves from one-fourth to three-eighths wide, 

 one to three inches long, pale green, glaucous. Seed ovate, in- 

 vested with the hardened palea. Flowers in July. Gould. 



Canary grass is a native of the Canary Islands, and 

 may often be seen in waste places. It has flowers 

 very similar to the preceding, and belongs to the 

 same species. Cattle devour it when young, but 

 being an annual, and not a very luxuriant grower, it 

 is not of much value as a forage crop. It yields from 

 thirty to forty bushels of seeds per acre, which are ex- 

 tensively used in feeding canary birds. 



