THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 



out every other grass or weed, as it forms a thick sod and is evergreen. 

 It looks like Bermuda grass and is equally prolific, but it possesses one 

 trait that Bermuda grass does not, that is, it is easily got rid of. It 

 is only necessary to plow shallow, turn the sod over, and in a week har- 

 row and your grass is gone. All grazing animals eat it in preference to 

 any other except Bermuda grass. It grows on a great variety of soil, 

 but thrives best in good soil. Some of the joints send up culms or stalks 

 which are very fine and wirj^, with a few slender seed-bearing spikes at 

 the summit. The runners extend out several feet, taking root at all the 

 joints, which are usually only 1 or 2 inches apart. It grows too close to 

 the ground and is too short for a good grass for hay, but for grazing it 

 has many good properties. Like i he preceding species, it should receive 

 attention from farmers, with careful experiments. 



Fnwalum setaceum is a species which is widely spread both in the 

 i^orthi'rn and Southern States. It grows usually to 2 feet high in 

 dry, sandy, or gravelly soil, some forms having smooth and others very 

 heavy leaves. It seems to have very little practical value. (Plate 3.) 



DiGITARIA. 



This genus is usually considered as a section of the genus Paiiicum^ 

 but it will be most convenient here to retain the old name. It serves to 

 connect Paspalum and Fanicim^ and in the structure of the flowers dif- 

 fers from Paspalum very little except in commonly having an additional 

 empty glume to the si)ikelets. This glume in sometimes very small and 

 occasionally absent. The flowers or spikelets are arranged like those of 

 Paspalum on one side of a narrow flattened axis or spike, and there are 

 several spikes crowded together at or near the summit of the culm. 



Digit ARIA sanguinale {Panicum sanguinale). Crab grass. 



This is an annual grass, which, although a native of the Old World, 

 has become spread over most j^arts of this country, and, indeed, over 

 most tropical countries of the globe. It occurs in cultivated and waste 

 grounds, and grows very rapidly during the hot summer months. The 

 culms usually rise to the height of 2 or 3 feet, and at the summit have 

 from three to six slender flower spikes, which are from I to 6 inches 

 long. The culms are bent at the lower joints, where they frequently 

 take root. This grass is well known to farmers and planters in the 

 South under the name of crab grass. Professor Killebrew, Tennessee, 

 says : 



It is a fine pasture grass, although it has but few base leaves aud forms uo sward, 

 yet it sends out numerous stems or brauches at the base. It serves a most useful 

 purpose in stock husbandry. It fills all our corn-fields, and many persons pull it out, 

 which is a tedious process. It makes a sweet hay, and horses are exceedingly fond 

 of it, leaving the best hay to eat it. 



Professor Phares, Mississippi, says that the corn aud cotton fields 

 are often so overrun with it that the hay which might be secured would 

 2218 GR 3 



