GRASSES OF MITTOE IMPORTANCE 1 89 



Agropyron occidentale, the well known ' ' bluestem' ' 

 of Montana and Colorado, is the most valuable of 

 all the Agropyrons. It has been heralded as a great 

 dry land grass. It is adapted to a great variety of 

 conditions, but is most useful on irrigated meadows 

 in the vicinity of Harlem, Montana, where it is exten- 

 sively cut for hay. In Colorado it constitutes an im- 

 portant part of the upland hay. In the Dakotas, 

 prairie sod, when plowed up and left to itself, is soon 

 covered by a growth of bluestem. In yield, on well- 

 irrigated land, it equals timothy. Where its hay is 

 well known it usually sells at a slight advance over 

 timothy. Horses are especially fond of it, and it is 

 verj'^ nutritious. This grass is somewhat weedy in 

 charadler, having strong underground stems, and is 

 difficult to eradicate when once established. Yet it is 

 not bothersome in grain-fields. In order to keep blue- 

 stem meadows in a produdlive condition, it is necessary 

 to break them up every three or four years. (A plat of 

 bluestem in the grass-garden of the Department of 

 Agriculture is seen in Fig. 41.) 



There are a few other wild grasses of the West that 

 may prove valuable for hay produdtion on lands that 

 do not now produce tame hay crops, for lack of suffi- 

 cient moisture; but as their vilue is as yet entirely 

 problematical, they do not need to be enumerated 

 here. Kxtensive investigations are now in progress, 

 with a view to testing them for this purpose. 



Large Water-grass {Paspalum dilatatum) is 

 one of the native grasses of the South that has recently 

 attracted attention, particularly for pasture purposes. 

 It is exceedingly well liked by stock, and furnishes 



