GRASSES OF MINOR IMPORTANCE 1 85 



hay per acre. The hay is remarkable for its lightness, 

 a ton of it being much more bulky than a like weight 

 of other kinds of hay. Horses and cattle nearly starve 

 before they acquire a taste for velvet- grass, but when 

 the taste is once acquired they thrive upon it remark- 

 ably well, showing that it is highly nutritious. The 

 whole plant is covered by a growth of wool-like hairs, 

 from which fact the name is derived. It is unworthy 

 of attention except on the classes of soils above men- 

 tioned. On these soils it drives out all other grasses. 



Crab-grass {Panicum sanguinale^) . — This grass 

 (Fig. 38.) is of considerable importance in the South. 

 Its distribution is shown in Fig. 39. It is not a culti- 

 vated grass in the ordinary sense, as its seed is never 

 sown. It comes up as a weed in corn-fields after the 

 last cultivation, and furnishes no inconsiderable amount 

 of pasture. A considerable proportion of the hay pro- 

 duced in the South is made from this volunteer growth 

 of crab-grass. The yield is light, seldom exceeding a 

 ton per acre, and the hay is of only moderate quality. 

 It has a very good standing with Southern farmers, 

 but is not often seen on the markets. It isinostly fed 



Carpet-grass {Panicum compressuni) . — Tnis is 

 an important pasture-grass in eastern Texas, Louisiana, 

 southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and parts of 

 Florida. It sends out long, creeping stems which root 

 at the joints, and form a very dense, even carpet of 

 sod, whence its name. Stock are very fond of it, and 

 it is highly prized where it grows. On sandy lands 



MISCELLANEOUS grasses 



on the farms where it is grown. 



