GRASSES OF MINOR IMPORTANCE 179 
THE RYE-GRASSES: ENGLISH RYE-GRASS (Lolium 
perenne)—ITALIAN RYE-GRASS (Lolium italicum) 
These grasses are even less popular in this country 
than the fescues; in- fact, they are practically un- 
known here, except on the Pacific Coast west of the 
Cascade Mountains, and in a few places in the South. 
Yet they are the most important grasses of Europe. 
It is not at all easy to account for their lack of popu- 
larity on this side of the Atlantic. Stock certainly 
prefer them to all other cultivated grasses; their seed 
is fairly reliable, though their scarcity in the markets 
renders them high-priced, and they yield well on soil 
suited to them. Although they do not yield so well 
as timothy, it would seem that the superiority of the 
herbage they produce ought to give them a place 
among American farm grasses. There is, of course, 
the same difficulty with their seed that is met with in 
the case-of most imported grass-seed: we get only 
inferior quality, asarule. The fact that more seed per 
acre is necessary than is the case with timothy, and that 
it is more costly, added to the somewhat poor quality 
of seed found in our markets, probably accounts, to 
some extent at least, for their lack of standing. It 
may be, too, that they are not adapted to our climatic 
conditions, for it is frequently the case that crops that 
flourish in Western Europe are adapted only to our 
Pacific Coast States. Certain it is that the rye-grasses 
have gained no foothold to speak of in this country, 
except on the Pacific Coast. 
On irrigated plains in northern Italy, and on sandy 
lands in the vicinity of Edinburgh, Scotland, irrigated 
by sewage from the city, Italian rye-grass yields enor- 
