58 



e 

 nerved, the lower one nearly three lines long and one-nerved. The 



flowering glume is about four lines long, green, strongly seven- 

 nerved, lanceolate, acute, hairy at base, roughish, and in the lower 

 flower gives rise on the back below the middle to a long, twisted, 

 and bent awn; in the upper flower the glume is merely bristle- 

 pointed near the apex. The palet is thin and transparent, linear, 

 and two-toothed. This grass is much valued on the continent of 

 Europe. The herbage is very productive and its growth rapid. 

 When growing with other grasses cattle and sheep eat it very well, 

 but do not like to be confined to it exclusively. 

 Professor Phares, of Mississippi, says : 



It is widely naturalized and well adapted to a great variety of soils. On sandy or 

 gravelly soils it succeeds admirably, growing 2 to 3 feet high. On rich, dry upland 

 it grows from 5 to 7 feet high. It has an abundance of perennial, long fibrous roots 

 penetrating deeply in the soil, being therefore less affected by drought or cold, and 

 enabled to yield a large quantity of foliage, winter and summer. These advantages 

 render it one of the very best grasses for the South, both for grazing, being ever- 

 green, and for hay, admitting of being cut twice a year. It is probably the best 

 winter grass that can be obtained. It will make twice as much hay as timothy. To 

 make good hay it must be cut as soon as it blooms, and after cut, must not be wet 

 by dew or rain, which damages it greatly in quality and appearance. For green 

 soiling it may be cut four or five times with favorable seasons. In from six to ten 

 days after blooming the seeds begin to ripen and fall, the upper ones first. It is 

 therefore a little troublesome to save the seed. As soon as those at the top of the 

 panicle ripen sufficiently to begin to drop the seeds should be cut off and dried, 

 when the seeds will all thresh out readily and be matured. After the seeds are ripe 

 and taken off the long, abundant leaves and stems are still green, and being mowed 

 make good hay. It may be sown in March or April and mowed the same season ; 

 but for heavier yield it is better to sow in September or October'. Not less than 2 

 bushels (14 pounds)per acre should be sown. The average annual nutriment yielded 

 by this grass in the southern belt is probably twice as great as in Pennsylvania and 

 other Northern States. 



Danthonia, D. C. 



Spikelets three to five, or many flowered, in a panicle or simple 

 raceme; the rhachis hairy and produced beyond the flowers in a 

 stipe or imperfect flower ; outer glumes narrow, keeled, acute, usually 

 as long as the spikelet; flowering glumes convex on the back, of 

 firmer texture, seven to nine nerved, with two rigid or scarious ter- 

 minal teeth or lobes, and with a flattish, twisted and bent awn be- 

 tween the teeth ; palet broad, two-keeled, obtuse or two-pointed. 



1. D. Californica, Boland. Pocky Mountains and California. 



2. D. compressa, Aust. Mountain Oat grass. 



