| Handbook of Nebraska Grasses. aw 
NOTES ON ECONOMIC GRASSES. 
No grass can be grown under cultivation on any large scale 
unless it is possible to secure its seeds in sufficient quantity and 
at a reasonable price. The failure of many otherwise very de- 
sirable species to seed freely under cultivation makes their use 
quite impossible. 
The use of grasses for specific purposes depends upon various 
other characters, only one of which is here mentioned. Rhizomes 
of many perennial grasses are continued by the formation of 
shoots from the lower nodes of the flowering shoots. The 
method by which these shoots are formed determines whether 
the grass will be a “bunch” grass or a sod or “turf” grass. The 
buds mentioned develop within the sheath and if they continue 
their growth enclosed by the sheath they are called intra-vaginal. 
Such grasses are apt to form bunches or tussocks. On the other 
hand, if these buds early break thru the sheath, then extra- 
vaginal shoots result and these spread the grass over a consider- 
able area by means of the resulting stolons. This type of grass 
will form a more or less compact turf or sod. Moreover, bunch 
grasses would be of little value as sand binders in comparison 
with grasses of the latter type. 
The following notes have been compiled to serve as an in- 
troduction to further study and experimentation with our na- 
tive grasses. The Department of Agricultural Botany desires 
to receive specimens of our native grasses and information con- 
cerning their behavior. Such specimens will furnish us more 
accurate data regarding the distribution of our various grasses 
thruout the several counties. 
AGROPYRON. 
1. Agropyron biflorum. Purple Wheat Grass. (Fig. 107.) 
A slender perennial of western Nebraska. 
. Agropyron caninum. Awned Wheat Grass. (Fig. 107.) 
An erect grass sparingly naturalized in cultivated 
ground and meadows. The bearded nodding heads _ re- 
semble somewhat heads of wheat. Unlike Couch Grass 
this species has no rootstocks. It may readily be propa- 
gated by the seeds, which are easily gathered. 
3. Agropyron repens. Couch Grass. (Fig. 106.) 
A stout perennial grass which forms a dense sod by 
means of its extensive system of rhizomes. It is a valu- 
able hay grass, but, like Western Wheat Grass, it soon 
bo 
