PLANTS WHICH CAN NOT BE RECOMMENDED. 51 



PLANTS WHICH CAN NOT BE RECOMMENDED. 



The following grasses and forage plants have been tested, but the 

 results are not such that they can be recommended for Nebraska. 

 Some of the trials were failures because the seed did not germinate. 

 In such cases judgment upon the value of these plants must be reserved. 

 The experiments were based upon trials extending, in many cases, 

 over as many as six years: 



Agropyron caninum. — The tests with this wheat-grass were unsatis- 

 factory on account of a mixture of seed, but it showed no evidence of 

 value. 



Agropyron divergens. — There was no stand produced with this grass, 

 but experiments at other stations in the Northwest, notably at Pull- 

 man, Wash., have shown that it can be grown successfully from the 

 seed and is well adapted to the semiarid conditions of that region. 

 Although with seed of good vitality it may prove successful here, it 

 probably has no advantage over Agropyron occidentals. Agropyron 

 divergens biennis was also tried, but it produced a poor stand and was 

 not promising. 



Agropyron violacemn. — Several trials were made, but the results 

 were unsatisfactory. 



Johnson grass {Andropogon halepensls). — A common and valuable 

 hay grass for the Southern States, but it has shown itself to be a diffi- 

 cult plant to eradicate, and hence has become in many sections a great 

 pest. In Nebraska it will not usually survive the winter. This grass 

 was sown at the station in the spring of 1897 and survived the winter 

 of 1897-98, but it was killed out during the next winter. Other 

 attempts to raise it resulted in continual loss during the winter. 



Sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum).- — This grass has little 

 forage value an} r where, but it is sometimes used in the Eastern States 

 to impart a pleasing odor to the hay, for which purpose a small 

 quantity suffices. 



Australian saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata). — This forage plant has 

 proved quite successful in California and in some other parts of the 

 Southwest, especially in alkali soil. However, in States as far north 

 as Nebraska it is unable to survive the winters, and hence must be 

 grown as an annual, but the uncertainty of germination and the rather 

 meager growth the first season render it unsatisfactory as an annual 

 forage plant. The trial at the station extended over four years, but 

 in no case were the results at all promising. The plants were killed 

 out every winter except in 1900-1901. Even the second year's growth 

 was too small to be of much value. 



Swamp-chess {Bromus ciliatus). — The plots gave a fairly good stand, 

 but the plants do not thicken up in the plot, and the individuals are 

 coarse and not leafy enough for hay. Although this grass might be 



