AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF MONTANA. 91 



nml makes u valuii])lo foragi' plant. Kentucky Jilue-grass (/'. 

 jirafousis) is truly intligonous, and grows <[uite abundantly along 

 the streams and rivers. Ptxt fcinii/oh'a may well bo regarded as 

 /he grass of the country. Xo species withstands the long snmnuM- 

 drouglit so well, and it constitutes the chief forage upon the dry 

 bench lands. It has several local names, such as I'unch-grass, 



Ked-top, Iied-topped BulTalo-grass. etc. In the drier soils 

 the culms are low, less than a foot, and slender, usually of a red- 

 dish color, and the foliage is reduced to the short and dense 

 radical tuft; l)ut tlm ])lant responds readily to richer soils and 

 better situations, and when growing alotig streams or on irrigated 

 land it makes a luxuriant growth <tf foliage and attains the 

 height of two or three feet. As line a lield of mitural grasses as 

 I saw in the Territory, or, in fact, as I have ever seen anywhere, 

 included J^oa iv mi if (ilia, Kd'Irrin rristitUi. Slijut riridiihi. S/i/xi 

 covHtta, as the leading sju'cies. tiie Poa being the most abundant. 

 In thistield theStipas were unusually line, overtop])ing the other 

 grasses. 



Manmi-grass ((rli/ceriti) — Tlirt'c species are common; Keed 

 Meadow-grass {(i. (tquaticd). a -well-known grass in the eastern 

 and middle States, grows in similar situations here — wet grounds 

 and along the borders of streams — attaining the height of from 

 three to live feet. Crhjceria nerviita is still more abundant. 



Cireat Bunch-grass. RiilTalo Bunch-grass, {^Fextuca xra- 



Inrlla). — 'i'his is one of the characteristic grasses of the country. 

 On the mountain slopes and fodt-hills, at elevations of over Ti.OOO 

 feet, it is the jirevailing spi'cics, constituting oiu^ of the most 

 valuable forage grasses of llie winter ranges. It often covers 

 many thousand acres of the mountain parks, and during August 

 it is cut in large (plant it ies for hay; it makes I'xccllent feed, both 

 for horses and cattle, but is rather too hard and coarse for sliet)). 



Sheep's Fescue (FcsfHnt (iritiii). — Tlie name of Hunch-grass 

 is ai>plied also to this sjiecies, which, in point -of altitude, occu- 



