THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 39 



subdivided. The panicle is, in diHeient varieties, narrow and with few 

 short, simple branches, or large and dense with long and spreading 

 branches. The glumes are also variable, being sometimes awnless and 

 sometimes provided with long, rough awns or beards. These variable 

 features have been indicated by special names, as variety mutica, the 

 form without beards; var. hispida, a form with rough, hairy-leaf sheaths ; 

 variety echinata, a form with long, rough awns to the glumes. The 

 spikelets are densely crowded on the spikes or branches of the panicle. 

 The glumes are usually more or less rough, with oppressed, stiff' hairs, 

 the outer empty one very broad, with a very short point one-third as 

 long as the pointed upper one, the glume of the sterile flower still longer 

 and frequently having a long, strong awn sometimes an inch or more in 

 length. The perfect flower is ovate, smooth, pointed, and cousins a 

 large flattened orbicular seed. This grass is found in almost all parts 

 of the world. It is frequently found in barn yards, and hence the com- 

 mon name. 



In the Northern States it is esteemed as a rough, coarse weed ; in the 

 South it is often utilized and considered a very useful grass. 

 Dr. Charles Mohe, of Mobile, says of it : 



An annual, 2 to 3 feet Mgh, beariug its rougbly-awned flowers in dense, one-sided 

 panicles, composed of numerous crowded spikes ; it grows luxuriantly, particularly 

 in the lowlands of the coast ; is greedily eaten by horses and cattle, and makes a hay 

 of good quality. It is justly regarded as an excellent grass, particularly before it 

 ripens its seed, as in the latter stages of its growth the long and stiif awns of its 

 spikes tend to make it somewhat unpalatable. 



Professor Phares, of Mississippi, says : 



In Louisiana, Mississippi, and some other States it is mowed annually. Some 

 farmers assure me that they harvest four or five tons of hay per acre. It may be cut 

 twice each season by making the first mowing as soon as it begins to bloom. I know 

 no one who plants it ; but it annually reseeds the ground and requires no cultivation 

 or other care, save protection from live stock and the labor of harvesting. Beiug a 

 coarse grass, with long leaves and large succulent stems, it requires care to cure well. 

 In one county in Mississippi hundreds of acres are annually mowed on single farms. 

 Cows and horses are very fond of it, whether green or dry. Farmers who have tested 

 it most thoroughly for many years prefer it to the best corn fodder. 



(Plate 11.) 



Panicum viRGATUM L. (Tall Panic grass ; Switch grass.) 



A tall perennial grass, 3 to 5 feet high, growing mostly in clumps in 

 moist or even in dry sandy soil, very common on the sea-coast, and also 

 in the interior to the base of the Rocky Mountains. The culms are 

 erect, firm, and unbranched; leaves 1 to 2 feet long, flat, rough-mar- 

 gined, otherwise smooth, one-third to one-half inch wide. The i)anicle 

 is large and diffuse, rather pyramidal, from 6 inches to 2 feet long, the 

 branches angular, rather verticillate, the lower in fives or more, decreas- 

 ing above, flowering mosth^ near the extremities. The lower branches 

 are frequently half as long as the panicle and much subdivided. The 



