THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 83 



two to three lines long, with three short awl-pointed teeth at the apex j 

 the palet is nearly of equal len.iith ; the sterile flower is reduced to one 

 or two minute scales with three short awns, or to a single small awn. 



The most useful of the gramma grasses is, probably", the Boufeloua 

 oligostachya, but the others aid in furnishing the supply of food for the 

 thousands of animals which are fattened on the great plains. It is 

 doubtful if these grasses would bear the effect of continued tramping 

 and close cropping if the lands were inclosed and pastured. 



Eleusine Indica. (Yard grass, Crow- foot. Crab grass, Wire grass.) 



An annual grass belonging to tropical countries, but now naturalized 

 in most temperate climates. In the Southern States it is found in every 

 door-yard and in all waste places. The culms are from 1 to 3 feet high, 

 usually coarse and thick, and very leafy, especially below. The leaves 

 are long and rather wide. At the top of the culm there are two to five 

 or more thickish, densely-flowered spikes proceeding from a common 

 point, with sometimes one or two scattering ones lower down on the 

 culm. The spikelets are sessile and crowded along one side of the axis, 

 each being from two to six flowered, the upper flower imperfect or ru- 

 dimentary ; the outer glumes are membranaceous, shorter than the 

 flowers, the flowering glumes usually obtuse; the palet folded and two- 

 keeled. 



Professor Phares, of Mississippi, says : 



The clumps have many long leaves and stems, rising I or 2 feet high, and many 

 long, strong, deeply penetrating fibrous roots. It grows readilj^ in door-yards, barn- 

 yards, and rich cultivated grounds, and produces an immense quantity of seeds. It 

 is a very nutritious grass, and good for grazing, soiling, and hay. The succulent 

 lower part of the stems, covered with the sheaths of the leaves, renders it difficult to 

 cure well, for which several days are required. It may be cut two or three times, 

 and yields a large quantity of hay. 



(Plate 79.) 



Leptochloa mucronata. (Feather grass, Slender grass.) 



An annual grass, growing from 2 to 3 feet high, the flowers arranged 

 in a long panicled, loose raceme. The branches or spikes are verj^ 

 slender, 1 to 5 inches long, and very numerous, thirty to fifty or more, 

 with the spikelets sessile and continuous in two rows along one side 

 of the spikes. The spikelets are about one line long, three-flowered, 

 the uppermost flower imperfect. The outer glumes are lanceolate, 

 acute keeled, and nearly as long as the spikelet ; the flowering glumes 

 are obtuse or sometimes slightl3^ mucronate, one-half line long, keeled, 

 and with strong, somewhat pubescent, lateral nerves. 



This is a handsome grass when full grown, the panicles on thrifty 

 specimens becoming 2 feet long, the slender branches arranged along 

 the main stem in a feather-like manner, hence the name. It grows 

 from Virginia, west and south, becoming quite common in the South- 



