esty of the physicians, the consequent 

 intelligence of the people and a happy 

 escape from the terrors of vaccination. 

 OLIVE EDDY ORCUTT, M. P. 



COMPULSORY ONION EATING. 



Onion-eating people are said to be 

 immune from smallpox attacks. It is 

 suggested that the grange associations 

 •of each state shall petition the legisla- 

 tures to pass laws making onion-eating 

 compulsory. The advantages over vac- 

 cination are several: — we have never 

 seen it asserted by a physician that on- 

 ion-eaters were not immune; no deaths 

 from onion eating have ever been 

 reported; the increased consumption of 

 onions will greatly benefit the agri- 

 cultural classes and add to the longevi- 

 ty of the nations; and only the super- 

 fastidious people (the very rich, who 

 are immune from the laws anyway), 

 could object to compulsion in eating 

 such a delicious vegetable. Those too 

 poor to purchase the succulent should 

 be provided with a regular supply at 

 the expense of the state. Doctors, who 

 visit sick people, should regularly file 

 affidavits as to the quantity of onions 

 eaten within a given period, that the 

 public health may not be endangered. 

 C. R. ORCUTT. 



Grasses of the Southwest. 



AEGOPOGON GEMINIFLORUS H-B. 

 AGROPYRON DIVBRGENS Nees. 



Mont; Colo; N M; Cal; Wash. 

 AGROPYRON GLAUCUM R-S. 



"Culms from running ro'Otstocks, 1-3 ft. 

 high, erect, rigid, smooth, with about 3< 

 erect, rigid, narrow leaves, 4-6 in. long: 

 spike distichous, 4-6 in. long, 4-6 lines 

 wide, generally close or compact: spike- 

 lets 5-9-fl'd, smooth'ish or sometimes pu- 

 bescent; outer glumes slightly unequal, 

 narrowly lanceolate, acuminate or awn- 

 pointed, the lower 4-5 lines, and the upper 

 5-6 lines long, the lower 1-3-nerved and 

 the upper about five-nerved, the lateral 

 nerves mostly all on one side of the mid- 

 rib; fl'ng glumes 4-6 lines long, lanceolate, 

 obtusish, or acute, or awn-pointed, usu- 

 ally sparsely pubescent, 5-nerved, the 

 nerves indistinct below; palet about 

 equalling its glume, rather acute, slightly 

 b? dentate, the keels hispid-ciliate, the 

 back sparsely softly pubescent. The 

 "whole plant is usually glaucous. In rich 

 soil the s pikelets are sometimes double at 

 the joints."— Vasey, bot gaz 1'0:259. Mont, 

 to N. M.; Ba.ia mts (Or 1162. 1164). Valu- 

 able for forage and hay. "Blue stem on 

 blue grass." 



"Apparently annual: culms about 2 ft 



8 



high, slender, smooth: lvs filiform, not 

 rigid, the lower ones recurving, 3-4 in. 

 long; sheaths smooth, loose and open, the 

 lower longer than the internodes; ligule 

 conspicuous, 2-3 lines' long, triangular- 

 acuminate, sometimes split; upper half 

 of culm leafless: panicle 6-8 in. long, lax 

 and open, branches mostly in twoa, the 

 lower ones 2-3 in. long, slender, smooth, 

 fl bearing to or below the middle, the 

 lower joints 1-2 in. distant: spikelets 

 small, outer glumes nearly 2 lines long, 

 equal, linear-lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, 

 smooth, purplish, one-third longer than 

 both fls: fl'ng glumes ^-two-thirds line 

 long, oblong, smooth, faintly nerved, apex 

 broad and 4-toothed the awn from near 

 the base 4 times as long as its glume, 

 bent at the middle: palet as long as its 

 glume, uarrow, ciliate above:villous hairs 

 at. the base half as long as the fl: the 

 rhachilla also villous." — Vasey, bot gaz 

 10:224. S D mesas! Baja! 

 AGROPYRON PARISHII Scribner & 



Smith. 



"Culms 2 to 3y 2 feet high, with flat 

 leaves and erect or nodding spikes 6 to 12 

 inches long. Culms cylindrical, glabrous, 

 striate, or smooth and shining below; 

 nodes tumid, retrorsely pubescent; leaf 

 sheaths striate, pubescent below, and 

 sparingly ciliate along the margins, the 

 basal ones shorter, the upper longer than 

 the internodes; ligule membranous, very 

 short; leaf blade constricted at the base, 

 smooth on the back, scabrous above and 

 on the margins, 2 to 3 lines wide, linear 

 attenuate to the acute apex, the lower 

 culm leaves 6 to 9 inches, and the upper- 

 most 1 to 2 inches. Spike of 8 to 12 com- 

 pressed oblanceolate spikelets. Spikelets 

 5- to 7-flowered, 8 to 10 lines long, shorter 

 than the internodes of the rachis, which 

 is scabrous on the margins; empty glumes 

 two-thirds as long as the spikelets, nearly 

 equal, linear, acute or acuminate, 5-nerv- 

 ed, scarious on the margins; flowering 

 glume lanceolate, acute, 4% to 5V 2 lines 

 long, flattened on the back below, promi- 

 nently 5-nerved above, and scabrous to- 

 ward the minutely 3-toothed awnless or 

 short-awned apex. Awn, when present, 

 straight, slender, 3 to 4 lines long. In- 

 ternodes of the rachilla 1 line long, mi- 

 nutely pubescent. Palea -as long as the 

 glume, acute or obtuse. Represented in 

 the National Herbarium by specimens 

 •"olle^ted by S. B. Parish in Waterman's 

 Canon, San Bernardino Mountains, Cali- 

 fornia, at an altitude of 3,000 feet, No. 2,054, 

 June 28. 1888, and No. 2238, June 23, 1891. 

 This snecies apparently connects Agropy- 

 ron with Brachynodium. The habit is 

 similar to that of A. Arizonicum. It is 

 the only American species with pubescent 

 i^ulm nodes."— Scr'bner & Smith, b 4, p 28, 

 D-A agr (6F 1897). 

 Variety DAEVE Scribner &■ Smith. 



"With the hab't of the species, but the 

 culm no'le-: and leaf sheaths glabrous; 

 awns as long or longer than the flowering 

 glumes. Tyne in the Gray herbarium No. 

 414, Dr. Edward Palmer, collected at 

 Fowley's Cuvamaca Mo.m 1 ai r s, in the 

 1875."— Scribner & Smith, C 4, p 28, D-A 

 agr (6 F 1S97). 



