THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 61 



Professor Killebrew, of Tennessee, says: 



It is hardly uiore thau necessary to mention this grass, which forms in many sec- 

 tions the bnlk of the pastures of rhe ^YOOLls. It does not grow in fields, bnt in woods, 

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

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

 are fond of it, and that on suliticieut range cattle, horses, and sheep wiil go inlo the 

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

 less. 



According to the analysis of the chemist of this Department it has a 

 very good amonnt of nntririve properties. It is considered by some 

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

 cultivation, no doubt, its place can be supplied with much more pro- 

 ductive grasses. (Plate 43.) 



MuHLEXBERGiA Mexicaxa. (Wood grass.) 



A i^erennial grass of decumbent habit, 2 to 3 feet high, very much 

 branched, from scaly creeping root-stocts. The cnlm has numerous short 

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

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

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

 times partially included in the leaf sheaths. The leaves are 3 to 4 

 inches long and two to three lines wide, gradnally 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 usually 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. 



This grass is frequently found in moist woods and low meadows or 

 in prairie bogs. It probably would not endure upland culture, but in 

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

 (Plate 44.) 



MUHLENBERGIA SVLVATICA. (Wood graSS.) 



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

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

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

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

 nuich in this respect, in some forms being only acute. It inhabits drier 

 situations than the M. Mexican i^ being found in dry, open, or rocky 

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

 that species. (Plate 45.) 



MuHLEXBERGiA GL03IERATA. (Spiked Muhlenbergia.) 



This grass grows in wet, swampy grounds, chiefly in the northern 

 and Avestern portions of the United States. It is found in Colorado, 



