254 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 
authorities as to its nativity. The point was only recently cleared 
up and the true origin of this grain established in Manchuria, 
all of which tallies well with the fact that it was apparently 
unknown to the prehistoric people either of Europe or of Asia. 
Timothy (Phleum pratense). ‘This plant, so familiar to farmers 
as the great hay grass, is the same as the herd’s grass of New 
England. It is native in Europe, as the small and related Phlewm 
alpinum, or mountain timothy, is native to the higher latitudes 
and the upper levels of the northern Appalachian Mountains. 
This great hay! grass is at best only semidomesticated, for it 
has never been systematically “ improved,” as have wheat, corn, 
and almost all the grain crops, so that only one variety exists. 
Blue grass (Poa pratensis) (Kentucky blue grass, June grass, 
spear grass, etc.), like timothy, is raised in pretty much its orig- 
inal condition. It is native throughout the hilly lands of east- 
ern United States from Pennsylvania westward, whence it has 
crept as far west as Iowa and Kansas and as far south as Ten- 
nessee, below which it does not seem to thrive. Like timothy it 
has never been improved and exists in but one variety, though it 
is very variable and there are more than eighty related species. 
Redtop (Agrostis vulgaris), often called bent grass, is another 
wildling among the grasses, and some of the best redtop 
meadows are self-seeded. Most of the redtop seed of the world 
is produced in three or four counties of southern Illinois, show- 
ing that it is only fairly coming into domestication. It grows 
native in southern United States, over widely scattered regions 
both high and low, but only in the latter does it make growth 
enough to be of value. 
? Timothy is unsuited for pasture because it grows a little bulb just under 
ground. If pastured when young, this little bulb will not form, in which case 
the sod will not endure; and if pastured after haying, the stock will soon learn 
to pull up and eat this bulb. This is what causes many farmers to wonder why 
their cattle thrived so well on stubble pasture in dry weather, when grass does 
not grow. It is also the reason why the meadow next year is a disappoint- 
ment; the plants have been pulled up and killed. Timothy should not be 
pastured when it has been recently mowed, that is, stock should not be turned 
upon timothy meadows immediately after haying. 
