Canadian Agriculture. 
233 
As the reader will probably be acquainted with some ot these, 
at least by their common names, it may be well to add a few 
descriptive details. The true American buffalo grass, unknown 
in Canada, but common in the states of Kansas and Colorado, is 
Buchloe dactyloidcs ; it throws out numerous runners, like 
a strawberry, and these, taking root, form new plants. The 
Canadian buffalo grasses are, Bouteloua oligostacliya, growing 
most abundantly in the southern districts, and Stipa spartea, 
which, though found on all the prairies of the North West, 
is commonest in the northern regions, and particularly on the 
Buffalo Plains. Stipa spartea is the famous grass of the hills 
in the Bow River country, and forms the bulk of the winter 
pasture of the great plains. It is allied to the ornamental 
feather grass, Stipa pinnata, of English flower-gardens, and has 
an awn some seven inches long. The " bunch " grasses are 
so called from their habit of growing in bunches or tussocks. 
Our English meadow foxtail, Alopecurus pratensis, is neither 
native nor cultivated in Canada, and the term foxtail is there 
applied both to the barley grass, Hordeum jubatum, and to the 
millet grass, Setaria setosa. The two grasses called red top, 
Agrostis vulgaris and Poa pratensis, are found chiefly on the 
eastern prairies ; the latter is also known as the blue grass of 
Kentucky. The wild rice, Zizania aquatica, grows luxuriantly 
in damp and marshy situations in Northern Manitoba, and it 
constitutes a delicious article of food. It is quite distinct from, 
though related to, the common commercial rice, Oryza sativa, 
and its grains are dark coloured. 
In some regions of the prairie, and particularly in the more 
swampy districts, certain sedges enter largely into the composi- 
tion of the herbage, the following being the commoner ones : — 
Systematic Name. 
Common Name. 
1 
Usual Habitat. 
*Carex aristata. 
1 
Awned sedge. 
Marshes. 
C. disticlia. 
Ditto. 
*C. lamiginosa. 
Woolly fruited sedge. 
Ditto. 
C. prairea. 
Prairie sedge. 
Ditto. 
*C. marcida. 
Open prairies. 
One only of these, C. disticlia, is also British, and a British species 
of rush, Juncus Balticus, the Baltic rush,* is likewise common 
on the prairie. The sedges constitute much of the prairie hay, 
and make up the greater part of the vegetation of the ponds 
and marshes. On the other hand, in the vicinity of woods, 
wild vetches and peas, and various rosaceous and composite 
plants, mingle with the grasses and yield excellent prairie hay. 
The elegant little prairie rose, Rosa blanda, which only attains 
* This is the wire-grass of Utah. 
