485 
About the 20th of April is as early as it will do to plant corn in Wis¬ 
consin ; and this process may be delayed till the middle of May without 
endangering the certainty of a fair crop. The yield is from 30 to 50 
bushels per acre. 
GENUS 54. TRIPSACUM. Linncms. 
[Greek — Tribo to rub or grind, perhaps in allusion to its polished fertile spike ] 
Spikelets sessile, on jointed spikes, the staminate flowers above; stam- 
inate spikelets in pairs, longer than the joint, the flowers with two paleae 
and three stamens; anthers orange-colored ; pistillate spikelets single, 
two-flowered, deeply imbedded in the thickened rachis, covered by the 
polished ovate outer glume; style long, stigmas very long, plumose, dark 
purple; grain ovoid free. 
143. Tripsacum Dactyloides. Zinnceus. 
Gama-grass. Sesame-grass. 
Spikes usually two together with the contiguous sides flat, the upper 
half staminate culms caespitose, hard, smooth, solid with pith ; leaves 
very long. Perennial; flowers in July. Culms 3 to 6 feet high. Illi¬ 
nois.—Dr. S. B. Mead. 
A very remarkable grass, about which much was said a few years ago, 
but which proved to be of but little real value. It is used as fodder for 
stock. It is eaten readily in localities where it grows naturally by all 
kinds of stock except mules—they perversely refuse it. It is much more 
common in the Southern States. 
GENUS 55. ANDKOPOGON. Lirmcem. 
[Greek— Andros man, and pocjon beard, from the hairy flowers.] 
Spikelets in paiis on each joint of the slender rachis, spiked or ra- 
cemed; one peduncelled, often a mere vestage; the other sessile with the 
lower flower neutral and of a single palea; the upper perfect, fertile, of 
two thin paleae shorter than the glumes, the lower awned from the tip ; 
stamens one to three; grain free; rachis hairy or plumose bearded. 
144. Andropogon Furcatus. Muhlenberg. 
Culms and leaves nearly smooth; spikes three to five, digitate, straight, 
rigid; spikelets approximated, roughish downy; awn bent; sterile flowers 
