GRASSES OF MINOR IMPORTANCE 1 89 



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 

 charadler, 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 produdtive condition, it is necessary 

 to break them up every three or 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 produdlion on lands that 

 do not now produce tame hay crops, for lack of suffi- 

 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. 



I/ARGE Water-grass {Paspalum dilatatum) is 

 one of the native grasses of the South that has recently 

 attracted attention, particularly for pasture purposes. 

 It i§ exceedingly well liked by stock, and furnishes 



