36 THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

 Of the native species of Fanicum we will notice a few : 



Panicum Texanum. (Texas millet.) 



Tbis grass is a native of Texas, and was first described and named 

 by Prof. S. B. Buckley in 1866. It is an annual, growing- from 2 to 4 

 feet high, at first erect, then becoming decumbent and widely spread- 

 ing, sparingly branched, very leafy, the sheaths and leaves soft hairy, 

 the margin of the leaves rough, the blade of the leaf 6 to 8 inches long, 

 and one-half to 1 inch wide, the upper leaves reaching to tbe base of the 

 panicle, or nearly so ; the i)anicle is 6 to 8 inches long, strict or close, 

 the branches alternate, erect, simple, 3 to 4 inches long, with some- 

 what scattered sessile spikelets. The branches of the panicle are rough, 

 the pedicels with scattered hairs, especially near the flowers 5 the spike- 

 lets are oblong, somewhat pointed, 2 to 2^ lines long, sparsely hairy; 

 the lower glume is half or two- thirds the length of the upper one, acute, 

 five-nerved, the lateral nerves uniting with the mid-nerve below the 

 apex, the upper empty glume prominently five to seven nerved, pointed; 

 the flowering glume of the sterile flower is five to seven nerved, its 

 palet thin and transparent, as long as the glume, the perfect flower 

 ovate or oblong-ovate, acutish, transversely wrinkled with fine reticu- 

 lated lines. 



It is a grass of rapid, vigorous growth, many stalks proceeding from 

 the same root, growing very close and thick at the base, succulent, and 

 yielding a large amount of forage. 



Mr. Pryor Lea, of Goliad, Tex., has had it in cultivation a number 

 of years, and states as follows : 



I consider it far superior to any grass that I ever saw for liay. It is a much more 

 certain crop tlian millet, and cultivated with less labor, and all kinds of stock pre- 

 fer it. In this region it is regarded, in tlie condition of well-cured hay, as more nu- 

 tritious than any other grass. It grows only in cultivated ground ; it prospers best 

 in the warmest season of the year; its luxurious growth subdues otlier grasses and 

 some weeds, with the result of leaving the ground in an ameliorated condition. 



Mr. H. W. Ravenel, of Aiken, S. C, says he has been cultivating 

 Fanicum Texanum for several years. It is hardy and naturalized there, 

 freely seeding and propagating itself, coming up in his grounds with 

 other grasses, and much larger and better than any of them for hay 

 and forage. 



The experimeuts of Professor Phares and others, in Mississippi, sub- 

 stantially confirm the statements of Mr. Lea, although it is said that it 

 will hardly hold its own against the common crab grass {JDigitaria 

 sanguinale). It has been called concho grass in some parts; in others 

 Colorado bottom grass. It is stated that on the Colorado bottoms, in 

 Texas, many of the farmers have devoted their farms entirely to its 

 production, finding it more profitable than corn or cotton. It is cut 

 twice and sometimes three times in a year, yielding about one and a 

 half tons per acre at each cutting. (Plate 7.) 



