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or wire grass of the North is very much like it in general 

 appearance, but the seed stalk is flattened, and for this reason 

 the botanical name poa oompressa is given. The seeds are 

 not so fuzzy as those of the Kentucky blue-grass. 



In all the middle portions of the United States it forms 

 ihe principlal constituent of the turf. In some sections it 

 has been used as a hay, and from the analysis hereunto ap- 

 pended, it is full of all the constituents of nutrition. But it 

 is not a success as a meadow grass, its chief excellence being 

 exhibited as a pasture grass. It endures the frosts of win- 

 ter better than any other grass we have, and if allowed to 

 grow rank during the fall months, it will turn over and 

 hide beneath its covering the most luxuriant of winter crop- 

 pings. Many farmers pass their stock through the entire 

 winter on it alone, feeding only when the ground is covered 

 with snow. 



As a lawn grass it stands pre-eminent among all others, 

 its rich Paris green foliage, its uniform growth and its con- 

 stant verdure making it beautiful both summer and winter. 



A farm well set in blue-grass will yield at least ten dol- 

 lars per acre in grazing, and yet men who have farms with 

 all the constituents necessary to produce the best of grass 

 will persistently wear them out in cultivation from year to 

 year, with less net receipts by far than the yield of a pasture. 



In the work on Wheat Culture, issued from this oflBce, it 

 has been shown that a large proportion of Middle and East 

 Tennessee abounds in limestone rocks, in fact, it underlies 

 the Basin of Middle Tennessee and forms most of the founda- 

 tions of the Eastern mountains. The blue-grass of Ken- 

 tucky is made from soil produced by precisely the same 

 strata of rocks seen here. Any farmer having land show- 

 ing an outcrop of limestone with a grayish colored subsoil, 

 may be assured he has the necessary soil. These rocks are 

 looked upon as a curse, yet, without their presence, we could 

 not have the magnificent parks of blue-grass seen around. 



Blue-grass lands do not exist everywhere in the United 



