31 



George H. Hogan, of Ennis, Tex., who first suggested the name 

 Texas Blue Grass, gave an account of it in the report for 1881-'82, 

 and now adds : 



Of all the grasses indigenous to our country the Poa arachnifera stands lirst as a 

 winter grass. I have been trying it for eleven years, and each year am more con- 

 vinced of its merits. I consider it better than Poa jyratensis (Kentucky Blue Grass) 

 for any locality. 



0. B. Richardson, Henderson, Rusk County, Texas, gives an account 

 of this grass in the Agricultural Report for 1881-'82, and in a letter to 

 the Commissioner, December 23, 1885, adds: 



The seeds are very light and troublesome to plant. Plant them about the 20th of 

 February, as you would beets or fine garden vegetable seeds, in rows about 20 inches 

 apart, and keep down the weeds aud grass the first summer. The next fall and win- 

 ter the jdants will meet in the rows and occupy the whole ground. I prefer, how- 

 ever, to propagate from sets. "Plant them in tbe fall or any time up to February 20. 

 First plow the ground, then with a narrow shovel lay off the rows 2-J- feet apart, and 

 plant the sets 10 inches apart in the row, as you do cabbage plants or sweet potato 

 slips. The seeds blow away quickly after getting ripe, and are difficult to gather 

 without wasting. They have to be stripped from the stems by hand. 



Prof. E. M. Shelton, Manhattan, Kans., in the Industrialist of Jan- 

 uary 22, 1887 : 



Texas Blue Grass, in color and leaf, resembles its near relative Kentucky Blue Grass, 

 but is of greatly more robust and vigorous habit. Its blades are much wider and 

 longer than those of Kentucky Blue Grass, and it seems to possess much more vitality. 

 At this writing, January 20, when all of our Other varieties of tame grasses and clovers 

 are perfectly sere and lifeless, Texas Blue Grass is full of green shoots, while the base 

 of nearly every blade is of the same lively color. 



Texas Blue Grass has other qualities, however, which make it especially valuable to 

 Kansas. I am confident that our longest, driest and hottest summer cannot injure 

 it, and the fact that it has passed uninjured through the last three winters is a suffi- 

 cient answer to the question of its capacity for withstanding cold weather. 



Moreover, this grass makes nearly or quite as firm and consistent a scd as the com- 

 mon Blue Grass, from which its suitableness for lawns may be inferred. 



Herbert Post, Selma, Ala., January, 1885 : 



This remarkable winter grass, while it has been known for many years in Texas, 

 has only been propagated here for two or three years. It goes to seed here usually by 

 the middle of April. It promises to become as valuable for winter grazing as Ken- 

 tucky Blue Grass is for summer. Its roots penetrate four or five times as deep as the 

 Kentucky Blue Grass, and being perennial, when once established it lasts indefinitely, 

 but can be as readily exterminated as any grass. 



Dr. Charles Mohr, Mobile, Ala. : 



Within the last two years this grass has been introduced into this section, and cul- 

 tivated by a few farmers on a small scale. It has proved perfectly hardy during the 

 last and the present winter, without receiving the slightest injury by frost, keeping 

 fresh and green, and continuing its growth throughout the winter season. It ripens 

 its seed here in June, after which the stems and foliage wither and dry up. From 

 June until the close of the hot months of summer its vegetation slumbers. With the 

 beginniug of the cooler season, the roots throw out new shoots, and the foliage begins 

 to grow vigorously. The period of rest during the hottest part of the season insures 

 a perfect immunity from the effects of drought. The jdant i 8 propagated by its 

 stolons, and after the second season forms a perfectly compact turf. It seems to re- 

 quire a rich, loamy, somewhat calcareous, soil. *- 



