MEADOW FOXTAIL. 227 



Imve any important mission in Manitoba and the coun- 

 try westward to the Rocky mountains, but it may yet 

 render substantial service in certain parts of British 

 Columbia. 



Soils. — All authorities agree in representing that 

 meadow foxtail will thrive best on a rich, moist, deep, 

 strong soil, with an underlying subsoil porous and yet 

 moist. It will probably grow best on rich, calcareous 

 loams and rich sands when thus underlaid. Richness 

 and moistness are important essentials in the soils in 

 which it grows, and linked with these there should be 

 more or less of friability. In Britain it has given good 

 results on land more or less springy at certain seasons. 

 It has high adaptation for rich porous soils that can be 

 subjected to irrigation. It has been claimed that it 

 will grow on any soil except the driest sands and gravels, 

 but the claim does not hold good except where moisture 

 is abundant as in the climate of Great Britain. In the 

 Mississippi basin its growth is not altogether satisfac- 

 tory on the loose soils of the prairie, though these 

 should abound in the elements most essential to plant 

 growth. On sands and gravels in the dry portions of 

 the West it would probably not succeed at all, until the 

 irrigated mountain valleys are reached. Even in Brit- 

 ain it does not well maintain itself on soils dry beyond a 

 certain degree. 



Place in the Rotation. — Since meadow foxtail is slow 

 in becoming established, and since it has the power to 

 maintain itself for many years without failing, it is not 

 essentially a rotation plant. It cannot be used at all 

 in short rotations. Its special mission is to furnish per- 



