IMPORTANT RANGE PLANTS. 17 
September 1. By about the middle of September the crop is usually 
well ripened, and, for the most part, disseminated. 
The germination per cent is about the average for an upland 
plant, the average for all tests conducted during the three years of study 
showing 26.4 per cent for the seed crop from the Hudsonian zone, 
where the revegetation studies were made. Seed collected in the 
Canadian zone germinated as high as 50 per cent. Some seed compa- 
nies handle seed of this species grown in Europe, which as a rule has 
a fair germinative strength. It is sold for about $22 per 100 pounds. 
This species is an important forage plant because it occurs fre- 
quently throughout the Hudsonian zone, is often met in the Canadian 
zone, occurs in sufficiently dense stands to make it an appreciable 
factor in meadow crops, and is eaten with relish. So far as texture 
is concerned, it is always desirable for cattle and horses, but is often 
too rank and coarse to be of the highest value for sheep. Neverthe- 
less, as a rule, sheep graze it closely. Densely vegetated meadows of 
this species grazed by sheep comparatively early in the summer when 
the root leaves are tender may have the appearance of a newly-mown 
lawn of bluegrass, so closely is the forage removed. Up to about 
August 15 tufted hair-grass is highly relished, but after that date the 
leaf blades take on a fibrous or somewhat woody texture which 
greatly lessens their palatability. In the latter part of the grazing 
season it is not usually grazed closely unless it has been cropped 
earlier in the season, a condition which results in prolonging the 
growth of the vegetative parts. The aftermath is eagerly consumed 
by all classes of stock, and especially by sheep. Observations indi- 
cate that this species withstands trampling and close grazing better 
than any other valuable forage grass in the region studied. This fact 
is due both to the habit of growth of the plant and to the nature of 
the situations in which it grows. 
Slender Hair-Grass. 
(Deschampsia elongata.) 
Slender hair-grass, though closely related botanically to tufted 
hair-grass, differs widely from it in general appearance (Plate XIII). 
Like tufted hair-grass it is a perennial and grows in tussocks, though 
the latter seldom attain a diameter exceeding 4 inches, and more 
often are only one-half that size. 
Slender hair-grass bears the appearance of an annual grass in that 
it is very shallow rooted and sends up a preponderance of slender 
naked seed stalks. The latter are erect and from 8 to 16 inches tall. 
At the base a prodigious number of narrow, rather smooth but very 
short root leaves are produced. The panicle is long, often fully 
one-third the length of the culm, and usually not widely branched. 
85154°— Bull. 545—17 3 
