ANNUAL FORAGE GRASSES 133 



America by Columbus; it is now cultivated throughout 

 the warmer regions of the world. 



THE SMALL GRAINS 



These grasses are ordinarily grown only incidentally 

 for forage, but on the Pacific Coast, because of the 

 absence of forage grasses suited to the conditions, the 

 grains are extensively used for the production of hay, 

 there known as grain hay. About three million tons of 

 grain hay are produced in the states of California, Oregon, 

 and Washington. The grains here used for hay are 

 mostly wheat, barley, and oats, including wild oats. 



Wild oats is a common and often dominant constituent 

 of the growth upon fallow grain fields. There are two 

 species included under the designation wild oats. The 

 commonest is Avena fatua L. which differs from the culti- 

 vated oat, Avena sativa L., in having the florets covered 

 with stilT brownish hairs, while the florets of the culti- 

 vated oat are smooth. There is a smooth variety of this, 

 called A. fatua glabrata Peterm., which can be dis- 

 tinguished from the cultivated oat by the strong bent 

 awn and by the easily disarticulating florets. The 

 second species of wild oat is Avena barbata Brot. This 

 differs from the other species mentioned above in having 

 more slender panicle branches, and in having the teeth 

 of the lemma extended into slender awns. 



CHESS OR CHEAT 



This is a European species of the genus Bromus which 

 has become a troublesome weed in this country especially 

 in grain fields. It is an erect annual, often stooling at 



