igfi FAiua GRASSES OF THE' UNITED STATES 



tions of it have been made on our North Atlantic 

 Coast and in \^''estem Europe. It also thrives in the 

 sands on the shores of the Great Lakes. It is propa- 

 gated entirely from sets, not from seed. Of cultivated 

 grasses, millet is adapted to rather sandj' soils, and 

 rye is an excellent winter crop for such lands ; but 

 these two crops are not adapted to the sandiest soils. 

 Canada blue-grass {^Poa compressa) possesses some 

 advantages as a pasture or lawn grass where the soil 

 is sandy. 



In the South there are several good grasses for this 

 purpose, the best being Bermuda grass, carpet-grass, 

 and 



St. Augustine Grass {Stenotaphrum dimidea- 

 tum). — ^AU three of these are propagated from cuttings 

 or pieces of sod. St. Augustine grass occurs along the 

 Atlantic Coast from Charleston, S. C, southward, but 

 does not extend far inland. It is a popular lawn grass 

 in that sedlion. Numerous grasses are found growing 

 on more or less sandy land in the West, but none of 

 them have found their way into the markets. 



Velvet-grass (^Holcus lanatus) , one of the oldest 

 domesticated grasses in England, is, in the immediate 

 vicinity of the Pacific Coast, a first-class meadow grass 

 on soils that consist of nearly pure sand. It is dis- 

 cussed in a previous chapter. 



Seaside Blue-grass {Poa macrantha) (Fig. 42) is 

 also found on the sands at the mouth of the Columbia 

 River. This grass may be worth looking after. It 

 produces an abundance of seed, which is easily har- 

 vested. Whether it has any value away from the coast 

 is not known. 



