THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 61 

 Professor Killebrew, of Tennessee, says : 



Ir is b:irdly more thau necessary to meation tbis grass, whicli forms in many sec- 

 tions the bulk of tbe pastures of the woods. It does not grow in fields, but in woods, 

 where, after rains have set iu, it carpets the earth with living green. Various opin- 

 ions are entertained as to its nutritive qualities. Some farmers assert that their stock 

 are fond of it, and that on sufficient range cattle, horses, and sheep will go into the 

 winter sleek and fat from this vigorous grass. Others regard it as well nigh worth- 

 less. 



According to tbe analysis of tbe chemist of tbis Department it has a 

 very good amount of nutritive properties. It is considered by some 

 that it is a good butter-producer and gives a good flavor to butter. In 

 cultivation, no doubt, its place cau be supplied with inucb more pro- 

 ductive grasses. (Plate 43.) 



MuHLEXBERGiA Mexicaxa. (Wood grass.) 



A i:)erennial grass of decumbent habit, IJ to 3 feet high, very much 

 branched, from scaly creeping root-stocks. Tbe cului has numerous short 

 joints, which frequently are bent and rooting near tbe base, and sending 

 out many long, slender, leafy lateral branches. From these branches and 

 from tbe apex of tbe culm arise the flowering panicles, wbich are some- 

 times partially included in the leaf sheatbs. Tbe leaves are 3 to 4 

 incbes long and two to three lines wide, gradually pointed. The pani- 

 cles are narrow, usually 2 to 3 inches long, and composed of five to ten 

 spike like branches, closely approximated or distant and interrupted 

 below. The spikelets are single-flowered ; the outer glumes are ab- 

 ruptly sharp-pointed and nearly as long as the flowering glume, which 

 is narrow, strongly three-nerved, and acute, with usuallj^ a few soft 

 hairs at the base and on the nerves. The palet is of equal length with 

 its glume, which is also acute, but not bristle pointed. 



Tbis grass is frequenth' found in moist woods and low meadows or 

 in i^rairie bogs. It probably would not endure upland culture, but in 

 its native situations it fills an imx^ortant part among indigenous grasses. 

 (Plate 44.) 



MUHLEXBEEGIA SYLYATICA. (Wood grasS.) 



This species in habit and appearance is very much like tbat of the 

 preceding. Tiie panicle is looser, the spikelets not so densely- clustered, 

 and tbe flowering glume bears an awn two or three times as long as 

 itself. The outer glumes are generally bristle-pointed, but tliey vary 

 much in this respect, in some forms being only acute. It inbabits drier 

 situations than the M. Mexican /, being found in dry, cr[)en, or rocky 

 woods and fence-corners. In agricultural value it corresponds with 

 that species. (Plate 45.) 



MuHLEXBERGiA GL03IERATA. (Spiked Muhlenbergia.) 



Tbis grass grows in wet, swampy grounds, chiefly in tbe northern 

 and western portions of tbe United States. It is found in Colorado, 



