8 BULLETIN 545, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table 1. — Chemical analysis of mountain bunch grass and timothy hay. 
Material. 
Protein 
Ether 
(nitro- 
extract 
gen). 
(fat). 
13. 18 
2.83 
12.24 
3.60 
4.18 
1.30 
6.78 
2.87 
Crude 
fiber. 
Mountain bunch grass: 
Matured plant 13. 18 2. 83 22. 20 
Growing plant 12.21 3.60 21.15 
Matured flower stalks 4.18 1.30 38.65 
Timothy hay 6.78 2.87 33. 
It will be seen that there is comparatively little difference in the 
nutritiousness of mountain bunch grass at the time the flower stalks 
are being produced and immediately after the seed crop has ripened. 
The greatest difference in the important constituents is found in the 
ether extract (fat), which is 27.21 per cent greater in the younger 
plants. This is partly offset by the fact that there is 7.68 per cent 
more protein (muscle making nutrients) in the matured plants. The 
latter also contain 4.96 per cent more crude fiber than the young 
plants, the most indigestible portion of the forage. In the matured 
flower stalks the protein (nitrogen) and the ether extract (fat) are 
very low, while the indigestible (crude- fiber) material is very high. 
This fact explains in part why the flower stalks are not grazed at 
maturity. 
Investigations have shown that well-cured grasses yield as much 
nutriment as the same grasses when green. 1 There is this distinction, 
however, that ordinarily the cured forage is not as palatable as the 
green. But since about half of the basal leaf blades remain green 
until the end of the grazing season, the palat ability and nutritive 
qualities of mountain bunch grass remain comparatively high after 
seed maturity. 
A plant closely related to the one discussed is blue bunch grass 
(F. idahoensis). Being confined almost entirely to lands of medium 
elevation, and the herbage having a distinctly bluish color and the 
awns on the culms and lemmas being about twice the length of those 
of mountain bunch grass, the two are readily distinguished even 
though both are distinctly bunch grasses. 
The flower stalks of blue bunch grass begin to show about the first 
week in June in the typical (yellow-pine) habitat and they continue 
to be produced mi til about August 1 . The seed matures, for the most 
part, between June 25 and August 15. The seed tested for germina- 
tion show a viability cf from 11 to 21 per cent. 
Blue bunch grass furnishes excellent forage for all classes of stock 
from early spring until the early part of August, when it begins to 
mature and the leaf blades become somewhat tough and dry. Even 
at that time it is grazed to a greater or less extent by cattle and horses, 
but only to a limited extent by sheep. All stock, however, relish 
Wolff, E., Farm Foods, 1896, English edition, p. 155. 
