156 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 
These faults seem to be at the basis of the aversion 
which most farmers in the timothy region have for 
this grass. There is really no good reason why the 
seed should cost more than blue-grass seed, except 
that the supply of it is more limited. It produces 
an abundance of good seed (fifteen to eighteen 
bushels per acre, according to Prof. H. J. Waters, of 
the Missouri Experiment Station), and it is easily 
harvested. If this grass were grown as plentifully as 
timothy the seed would probably be nearly as cheap. 
At present orchard-grass seed is produced in quan- 
tity only in the highlands of western Virginia and 
contiguous regions, and in two counties on the Ohio 
River—one in Indiana, and the other opposite, in 
Kentucky (see Fig. 9). This latter locality produces 
the bulk of the orchard-grass seed grown in this coun- 
try. Small quantities are produced in a few other 
localities. Grass-seed production seems to be quite 
generally confined to certain localities. There is some 
advantage in this. There is a good deal to be learned 
in the business of seed-growing, hence most farmiers 
are slow to take it up. When a community gets 
started to growing seed, neighboring farmers learn 
from those who first begin, a good local market is 
established, cleaners are built, and the business finally 
becomes general. It is probable that orchard-grass 
seed could be produced at a profit in many localities 
where little or none is now grown. But since the 
demand for it is quite small it would not be difficult 
to overstock the market. 
Perhaps the most serious fault orchard-grass pos- 
sesses is its tendency to become woody soon after the 
