148 A MANUAL OF FARM GRASSES 



been introduced into cultivation on a commercial scale 

 is slender wheat grass {Agropyron tenerum Vasey). This 

 is an erect bunch grass growing throughout the West 

 especially in the Northwest. The seed head is slender 

 and beardless, resembling a very slender, drawn-out 

 wheat head. 



The chief difficulties in the introduction of the wild 

 grasses are connected with economic seed production. 

 On page 53 are enumerated some of the reasons that 

 make timothy an important forage grass. In general 

 wild grasses do not conform to the timothy standard. 



Big bluestem is an excellent forage grass and produces 

 hay of the best quality, but efforts to introduce it into 

 cultivation have not succeeded because the seed is pro- 

 duced in small quantity and is not easily handled. 



There is a persistent demand from ranchmen for a 

 grass which will produce grazing or hay upon arid or 

 semiarid land. This demand, unfortunately, is not 

 likely to be gratified. For grazing purposes the native 

 grasses are usually producing all the forage possible under 

 the prevailing conditions. Through a long series of 

 centuries these grasses have adapted themselves to the 

 climatic conditions, and are producing a maximum for 

 those conditions. In seasons of maximum rainfall they 

 yield abundantly; in seasons of minimum rainfall thty 

 produce sparsely, merely maintaining their existence. 

 The perennial grasses, which constitute the bulk of the 

 grazing except in certain desert regions (see page 135), 

 maintain themselves, but do not spread or occupy new 

 soil except under unusually favorable conditions. Under 

 natural conditions these grasses depend upon these 



