RUSSIAN BRQME GRASS. 173 



oast, biit because it will grow better in them than other 

 useful grasses. 



This grass will grow at least fairly well in all the 

 provinces of Canada, but the center of distribution is 

 likely to be found in the prairie provinces, since in these 

 other grasses do not grow so satisfactorily. The best 

 crops of this grass, grown on the continent, will probably 

 be grown in Manitoba, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan and 

 Alberta. Much of the upland soil in the Canadian 

 maritime provinces bordering on the Atlantic, like the 

 soil of New England, is too low in fertility to grow this 

 grass in best form without first being enriched. 



Soils. — But few kinds of grass' will grow so well on 

 so great a variety of soils. The popular idea in Amer- 

 ica, at least, is, as previously intimated, that it has spe- 

 cial adaptation, for sandy soils, deficient in moisture. 

 This view is only partially correct. While it has rela- 

 tively high adaptation for these, the richer and the more 

 moist the soil, the better will this grass grow in it. The 

 best crops of Russian brome grass, therefore, in tillable 

 areas, will be obtained from rich alluvial deposits, or 

 from valley lands with a deep moist soil and abounding 

 in humus. Next in order in adaptation may be placed 

 clay loam soils, open in texture and rich in the elements 

 of plaint food. After these the ordinary soils of the 

 prairie so largely made up of vegetable matter; then 

 clays; after clays sandy loams and gravelly loams; and 

 last of all sandy and gravelly soils deficient in loam and 

 also in moisture. In the states which include the range 

 country, this grass will of course grow at its best in 

 the valleys where it can be irrigated, but in many of 



