UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



% BULLETIN No. 692 



Contribntion from the Bnreaa of Plant Indastrr 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



S^J^'^ymfU 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



July 23, 1918 



THE AGRICULTURAL SPECIES OF BENT GRASSES. 



Part L— RHODE ISLAND BENT AND RELATED GRASSES. 



By Charles V. Piper, Agrostologist in Charge of Forage- Crop Investigations. 



Part n.— THE SEEDS OF REDTOP AND OTHER BENT GRASSES. 



By F. H. HiLLMAN, Assistant Botanist, Seed-Testing Laboratories. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



General Stjmmaey l 



Part I. — Rhode Island Bent and Related 

 Grasses: 



Introduction 3 



Redtop 4 



Fiorin 5 



Rhode Island bent 7 



Colonial bent 10 



Velvet bent,or brown bent 11 



Carpet bent 11 



Summary 12 



Literature cited 14 



Part II.— The Seeds of Redtop and Other 

 Bent Grasses: 



Introduction 15 



Trade conditions 15 



Distiaguishing the seeds 17. 



General structure 17 



Distinguishing characters 18 



The seeds described 19 



Seed of redtop 19 



Seed of Rhode Island bent 20 



Seed of velvet bent 21 



Impurities of commercial seed 22 



Summary 25 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 



Part I of this bulletin discusses the identitj^ and characteristics of 

 Rhode Island bent and the immediately related grasses, namely, 

 redtop, fiorin, velvet bent, and "creeping bent." The distinguishing 

 botanical and agricultural characteristics of these grasses are pointed 

 out and two of them are illustrated with figures. 



Three of these grasses have been handled commercially by seeds- 

 men, namely, redtop, Rhode Island bent, and ''creeping bent," in a 

 mixture here referred to as South German mixed bent. The evi- 

 dence indicates that little genuine Rhode Island bent seed has been 

 on the market in recent years. 



Rhode Island bent is a 'Very valuable grass for lawns and golf 

 courses, not much inferior to creeping bent." Large quantities of seed 



55049°— 18— Bull. 692 1 



