so 



probably depending somewhat on the amount of shade or exposure 

 to which the grass is subject. 



Several years ago Mr. Hogan, of Texas, sent specimens of the 

 grass to this Department, and, as it was shown to be a relative of 

 the Kentucky blue grass, Mr. Hogan adopted for the common name 

 Texas blue grass. We give some extracts from his letters relating 

 to the grass : 



I find it is spreading rapidly over the country, and I claim for it all and more in 

 Texas than is awarded to the Poa pratensis in Kentucky. It seems to be indigenous 

 to all the prairie country between the Trinity River and the Brazos in our State. It 

 blooms here about the last of March, and ripens its seeds by the 15th of April. Stock 

 of all kinds, and even poultry, seem to prefer it to wheat, rye, or anything else grown 

 in winter. It seems to have all the characteristics of Poa pratensis, only it is much 

 larger, and therefore affords more grazing. I have known it to grow ten inches in 

 ten days during the winter. The coldest winters do not even nip it, and although it 

 seems to die down during summer it springs up as soon as the first rains fall in Sep- 

 tember and grows all winter. I have known it in cultivation some five years, and 

 have never been able to find a fault in it. It will be ready for pasture in three or 

 four weeks after the first rains in the latter part of August or first of September. I 

 have never cut it for hay. Why should a man want hay when he can have green 

 grass to feed his stock on ? 



Mr. James E. Webb* of Greensborough, Hale county, Alabama, 

 writes to the Department December 26, 1883, aud says : 



Kecent experiments show that the Texas blue grass {Poa arachnifera) flourishes 

 and grows here in west Alabama as finely as could be wished, and is likely ere long 

 to furnish us what we so much need — a fine winter grass. With Texas blue grass, 

 MelilotuB, and Bermuda grass, Alabama is a fine stock country. 



Mr. S. C. Tally, of Ellis county, Texas, has sent specimens of this 

 grass ; he says it is abundant there, bears heavy pasturing, and makes 

 a beautiful yard or lawn grass. 



Similar favorable accounts have been received from others. It is 

 likely to prove one of the most valuable grasses for the South and 

 Southwest. By means of its strong stolons or offshoots it multiplies 

 rapidly and makes a dense permanent sod. It produces an abund- 

 ance of radical leaves, and those of the culm are long, smooth, and 

 of good width, about 4 to 8 inches long and two lines wide. The 

 culms are 2 to 3 feet high, each with two or three leaves, with long 

 sheaths and blade, the upper leaf sometimes reaching nearly to the top 

 of the panicle. The ligule is short and rounded, or lacerated when old. 

 The panicle is from 3 to 8 inches in length, rather narrow, and with 

 short, erect branches of unequal length, in clusters of from three to 

 five, the longest seldom 2 inches, most of them short, some nearly 



