March 13, 1S95.] 



Garden and Forest. 



lO' 



purposes. That the Yellow Pine was a native tree at this 

 point is proved beyond question, and we are led to sus- 

 pect that an equally careful search will show its former 

 existence in other places in the valley. 



(7) In the Loup Valley there are Yellow Pines on the 

 South Loup, Middle Loup and North Loup Rivers. 



These occur in widely isolated canons, which have no 

 forest connection with one another. Since all the branches 

 of the Loup head in the Sand Hills, the occurrence of Pine 

 on their borders is very suggestive. 



(8) Logs and fragments of Yellow Pine-trees occur here 

 and there in the Sand Hills. 



A few years ago an old hunter at Norfolk told me that 

 he had frequently found old pine logs in tramping over the 

 Sand Hills, and that these had often served to make his 

 camp-fire. Professor Bruner a few years ago saw a set- 

 tler's wagon in the south-western part of Holt County on 

 which were fragments of pine wood cut from a pine log 

 found on the top of one of the hills. Professor Samuel 

 Aughey also, who traveled over the state a great deal in 

 the early days before the hunters had used up all these 

 fragments for fuel, states that he has repeatedly found such 

 logs or fragments. 



Fig. 15. — Piesent and past distriljution of Yellnw Pine in Kebraska. — Slc p. 102. 



Now, add to the foregoing facts another which but re- 

 cently came to light, and which shows that in places from 

 which all e.xternal traces of the Pine have disappeared they 

 may have existed in comparatively recent times. A few 

 weeks ago Mr. L A. Fort, of North Platte, placed in my 

 hands a fragment of a pine stump dug out of the ground 

 in Conroy Canon, in Lincoln County (on section 17, town- 

 ship II, range 27), about fifteen miles south and eighteen 

 miles east of the city of North Platte. This is about one 

 hundred miles east of its range on the Platte River as hith- 

 erto known, and in a locality in vv-hich the former presence 

 of Pine was unexpected. Putting all these facts together 

 (see map), I feel warranted in concluding that the area of 

 Yellow Pine in this state must have been formerly much 

 'greater than it is to-day. I think I can safely say also 

 that it is reasonably probable that the Sand Hills were once 



\wooded with the Yellow Pine. ^i , t- -n 



Lincoln, Neb. CJiiirks E. Besscy. 



Troublesome Grasses in Southern New Jersey. 



THE Grasses are, by far, the most important order in 

 the vegetable kingdom, yet vi'e find even in this well- 

 regulated family many species that are worthless, and 

 others that are worse than worthless — actually vicious. 

 Like most noxious weeds, our troublesome grasses are 

 mainly foreigners. The Crab-grass, Eleusine Lidica, as its 

 name indicates, comes from the east, and is a nuisance in 

 newly formed lawns and in dooryards generally. It has 

 ascending wiry stems and is not at all handson^e. Another 

 species, E. ^Egyptiaca, has a more creeping habit; it runs 

 along, rooting at the joints as it goes. It often gets into 

 Currant rows atid among other small fruits. I have seen 

 a single plant some yards in length. Sometimes it climbs 

 up into the bushes among which it grows. In uprooting 

 it, if a single joint is left a new plant is speedily formed. 



Fortunately, both this and E. Indica are annuals and more 

 easily subdued than if they ha perennial roots. 



The Couch-grass, Agropyrum repens, is naturalized from 

 Europe, and is one of our worst perennials. It increases 

 rapidly by long running root-stocks. We have several 

 forms of this species which seem to be indigenous. It is 

 one of the most troublesome weeds in southern New Jersey, 

 especially near the coast. Our Wheat. Agropyrum vulgare, 

 belongs to this genus, the good and bad being often closely 

 related in the vegetable as well as in the animal kingdom. 

 Cheat, or Chess Bromussecalinus, is very troublesome here, 

 especially in half-neglected orchards and vineyards. Last 

 year I noticed whole acres completely covered. This, too, 

 comes from Europe, and it is pretty well known every- 

 where. Two or three species of Foxtail Grass are trouble- 

 some in cultivated grounds, all of which are from Europe. 



The Bermuda, or Scutch Grass, Cynodon dactylon, is not 

 pretty on our lawns, as it is a coarse, creeping, much- 

 branched grass, and difficult to eradicate where it gets a 

 firm foothold. It is a perennial and also comes from 

 Europe, and is sometimes cultivated for pasturage. I am 

 sorry to say that one of the most pernicious of all our 

 grasses, the Bur-grass, Cenchrus tribulodes, is a native of 

 southern New Jersey. In neglected places, and in vine- 

 yards and orchards which are plowed only once or twice a 

 )'ear, this pest is almost unbearable. Several years ago I 

 became possessor of a place some live acres in extent, 

 mostly in fruit — vines and trees — which had been neglected 

 for years. The entire place was almost literally covered 

 with Bur-grass, and it has been a continual war of exter- 

 mination ever since. Some three acres of Grape-vines 

 were uprooted and put into civilized grass, which has effec- 

 tually routed it from that quarter, and an acre or more was 

 put into lawn-grass, which has about eradicated it here. 

 But the sharp-barbed burs which cover the seeds are every- 

 where, and the plants steal in among Currant and Goose- 

 berry rows and wherever they can find a bare spot 

 that is not often stirred. This terrible pest extends all along 

 the coast and about the great lakes and rivers to the south- 

 west as far as southern California. 



Two other species of this Bur-grass occur in south- 

 ern and lower California. Cenchrus Palmeri has more 

 wicked-looking spines than ours ; when young it is greedily 

 eaten by cattle, but they give it a wide IJerth as soon as the 

 involucres harden, and the injury caused by its burs more 

 than outvi'eighs its value as a forage-plant. C. myosuroides 

 is another species growing in the south-west. This is less 

 objectionable than the others, and produces a good crop of 

 forage when young, and the prickly seed-envelopes are not 

 quite so bad as the others. 



The Nut-grass, Cyperus rotundus, is a great plague here 

 in cultivated grounds. It is not a true grass, however, but 

 belongs in the vast family of Sedges. The members of 

 this great order are usually harmless, and mostl}' useless, 

 except to beautify the earth, often grovvmg, as they do, 

 luxuriantly where other things refuse to thrive. This Nut- 

 grass is said to come from the more southern states, but I 

 am sure that it must be indigenous here. At all events, 

 ever since the settlement of Vineland, it has been a pest in 

 cultivated grounds. It is distributed both by seed and by 

 small potato-like tubers, which are produced on long, slen- 

 der root-stocks running out from the plant in every direc- 

 tion, which in sandy soil reach a yard or more in length, 

 and the plow and cultivator help to distribute the pest by 

 breaking the runners and scattering the tubers, when each 

 will make a new pkmt if not constantly kept in check. 



I subjoin an extract from an article sent out b)^ the Gov- 

 ernment on the best means of eradicating Coco, as this 

 pest is sometimes called : 



The plan of campaign to extirpate Nut-grass is sini|ily to pre- 

 vent it maturing seed above ground. Nearly everyl->ody thinks 

 that the nuisance reproduces itself from the nutalone, whereas 

 it propasjates a thousand times more froni the seed. Hence, lo 

 elTectually and quickly destroy Nut-grass on any land infested 

 with it, the soil should 1)6 treiiucntiy stirred during the grow- 



