( 53 ) 



Abundant in the plains of North-West India, and up to 7 or 8,000 

 feet on the Himalaya. It is rarely found in the very sandy parts of 

 Western Punjab, and in the black soils of Central India it is also 

 scarce. Dub is by far the most useful of all fodder grasses, especially 

 for horses. It is perennial, and flowers nearly all the year round. 

 The foliage becomes scanty during the cold weather months, at which 

 time it may be said to be at rest. It varies considerably in habit as 

 well as in its nutritive qualities, according to the nature of the soil or 

 climate. It makes excellent hay, and will keep good for many years in 

 stack. It is considered to be. a first class fodder grass in Australia, 

 where it is widely distributed, though in all probability introduced with 

 cultivation. This grass is highly valued in the United States, where it is 

 generally known under the name of " Bermuda grass." The following 

 extracts are from Dr. Yasey's " Report on the Grasses of the South," 

 pages 26-2S (1887):— 



"In Louisiana, Texas, and the south generally, it is and has been the chief reliance 

 for pasture for a long time, and immense herds of cattle on the southern prairies subsist 

 principally on this food .... It has the capacity to withstand any amount of 

 heat and drought, and months that are so dry as to check the growth of blue grass 

 (Boa araclinifera) will only make the Bermuda grass green and more thrifty" 

 (Professor Killebrew). 



" Bermuda grass grows on any kind of soil in Texas, but will not stand the tramp- 

 ling of stock on loose sandy soil. It is hard to beat for a grazing grass, though long 

 continued droughts cause it to dry up " (Mr. M. M. Martin, Central Texas). 



" While this is the most northern limit of Bermuda grass, it is also the most 

 southern limit of Blue grass. The two growing together on the same land pro- 

 duce a most perfect pasture, as the Blue grass is green all the fall, winter, and 

 spring months, while during the heat of summer, which prevents the growth of the 

 Blue grass, the Bermuda flourishes. The two together in good strong soil make 

 a perfect pasture, good all the year round" (Mr. J. B. Wade, N. Georgia). 



" The time is not far distant when all the rough feed consumed on plantations 

 will be made of this grass, and when the planter will consider his hay crop of more 

 importance than his sugar and cotton. No other grass will yield such an amount of 

 valuable hay, surpass it in nutritious qualities, or support on an acre of pasture such 

 an amount of stock " (Mr. Affleck in Professor Killebrew's Grasses of Tennessee). 



55. CHLORIS, Swartz. There are about 40 species, all of them 

 occurring in warm latitudes. The spikes are either crowded at the sum- 

 mit of the peduncle, or are arranged in verticels. Spikelets 1 -flowered, 

 placed in two rows on one side of the simple spikes. Flowering glumes 

 awned. 



C.barbata, Swartz. (Plate XXXIV J Syn.—Andropogon barba- 

 tus, Linn.; C. decora, Nees. Vern. — Punjab : Ganni (Kangra), jharna 

 (S. and E. Punjab) ; Rajputana : Pliundi (Ajmere), punji (Merwara), 

 chhinkri (Jeypur) ; N.-W. Prov. : Gandi gavung and paluah (Royle), 



