GRASSES OF MINOR IMPORTANCE 189 
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 
very nutritious. This grass is somewhat weedy in 
character, 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 productive condition, it is necessary 
to break them upevery threeor 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 production on lands that 
do not now produce tame hay crops, for lack of suff- 
cient moisture; but as their value is as yet entirely 
problematical, they do not need to be enumerated 
here. Extensive 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 
