156 FARM GRASSES OP THB UNITED STATES 



These faults seem to be at the basis of the aversion 

 which most farmers in the timothy region have for 

 this grass. There is really no good reason why the 

 seed should cost more than blue-grass seed, except 

 that the supply of it is more limited. It produces 

 an abundance of good seed (fifteen to eighteen 

 bushels per acre, according to Prof. H. J. Waters, of 

 the Missouri Experiment Station), and it is easily 

 harvested. If this grass were grown as plentifully as 

 timothy the seed would probably be nearly as cheap. 



At present orchard-grass seed is produced in quan- 

 tity only in the highlands of western Virginia and 

 contiguous regions, and in two counties on the Ohio 

 River — one in Indiana, and the other opposite, in 

 Kentucky (see Fig. 9). This latter locality produces 

 the bulk of the orchard-grass seed grown in this coun- 

 try. Small quantities are produced in a few other 

 localities. Grass-seed produdlion seems to be quite 

 generally confined to certain localities. There is some 

 advantage in this. There is a good deal to be learned 

 in the business of seed-growing, hence most farmers 

 are slow to take it up. When a community gets 

 started to growing seed, neighboring farmers learn 

 from those who first begin, a good local market is 

 established, cleaners are built, and the business finally 

 becomes general. It is probable that orchard-grass 

 seed could be produced at a profit in many localities 

 where little or none is now grown. But since the 

 demand for it is qhite small it would not be difficult 

 to overstock the market. 



Perhaps the most serious fault orchard-grass pos- 

 sesses is its tendency to become woody soon after the 



