AGRICULTUEAL SPECIES OF BENT GEASSES. 



in their cultures, extending over many years. Sinclair (15, pp. 227, 

 230) records the same conclusion. This has also been the case in 

 our limited experiments. 



RHODE ISLAND BENT. 



Rhode Island bent (fig. 2) is the most common and abundant grass 

 on well-drained soils in 

 New England and New 

 York. It has every ap- 

 pearance of being a na- 

 tive, but it is highly 

 probable that it was 

 introduced from Europe, 

 as it is not distinguish- 

 able from Agrostis vulgaris 

 With., described origi- 

 nally from England. 



There can be no doubt 

 that this is the grass to 

 which the name Rhode 

 Island bent properly ap- 

 plies. Both the literary 

 and traditional evidence 

 clearly lead to this con- 

 clusion, which, however, 

 has been obscm-ed by the 

 fact that many recent 

 writers erroneously asso- 

 ciated the name Rhode 

 Island bent with. Agrostis 

 canina L., a grass rare in 

 America. 



It will suffice to point 

 out that FHnt (5, p. 18- 

 20), in 1857, was perfectly 

 familiar with both Rhode Island bent {Agrostis vulgaris) and white 

 bent (Agrostis alba), the distinctive characters of which he contrasts. 



Howard (7), before this, distinguished ^'Agrostis vulgaris major, 

 large redtop, western redtop," from ^'Agrostis vulgaris minor, small 

 redtop, finetop, etc.," but erroneously associated the name "Rhode 

 Island, or Burden grass" with the former. Potter (13) in 1889 

 described the methods of saving seed of Rhode Island bent used by 

 him on Prudence Island. On this island the common grass to-day 

 is Agrostis vulgaris, while Agrostis canina, if it occurs there at all, is 

 at least very rare. 



Fig. 



2.— Rhode Island bent {Agrostis tenuis). The detailed 

 figures show the ligule and a single spikelet. 



