Sharp County record., 1885-08-06
GRASS.
Necessity for an Increase in the NUMBER
and Kinds of Grasses.

A noted French cook once said of the
English; They have but one sauce
melted butter" They have large
variety of grasses, however, and do not
nowadays lack sauces. The moist cool
climate of England, temperate in WIN
ter, is eminently adapted to a large
range of grasses, which the world has
been travelled over to procure. Unfort-
unately our hot, dry summers are not
adapted to many of the grasses which
we have received from England, and OF
them among the best are timothy and
orchard grass. Both Of these, II not
natives of the United States, first at
tracted attention in England after haV-
inc been successfully cultivated here.
They are probably both indigenous with
us. the first certainly being found Wild
in New England, and also some varieties
in the Rocky Mountains.
1t is with grass as with any other
species of plants. Grasses must not
only be acclmated before reaching
their best development, but also must
be adapted to the soil and situation.
Hence the farmer must not only know
something of varieties as adapted to his
soil. but in the introduction OF varieties
of new species each must experiment
for himself The Tribune has hitherto
taken occG5on to call attention to the
subject of oEass, both in seeding and IN
the rotatioIl Grass is really the toun-
dation of all successful agriculture, not
only as feeding crop, but also in Its
quality of ameliorating the soil, es-
pecially if clover is included-not
grass, but none the less valuable as a
forage, and particularly so in relation
to the Improvement and amelioration Of
the soil.
The growing interest in grasses over
the whole country, and especially
in all the dryer portions of the
West and the South, where the want
of species having peculiar adaptation
to heat and lack of constant moisture
is more and more felt, shows the
necessity of inQuiring carefully into
the availability of native species to sup
ply this want. If among these may be
found grasses that will grow freely dur
inc our summer heat and drOuthS, while
it may not do away entirely with Spe-
cial fodder crops to bridge over such Pc
riods, nevertheless it may 60 far SO to
do. 1t is to be expected that many
failures may result in trials of new spe-
cies, vet this should not prevent careful
experiment. The great difficulty with
our native Western (prairie) grasses is
that many of them do not seed freely
in their wild state. There is, however,
an interesting field of experiment open
here, which it is to be hoped the Com
missioner of Agriculture will bring for
ward at the convention OF delegates
from the various agricultural colleges
soon to meet at Washington. If seeds
could be distributed to these institutions
for trial and report always bearing in
mind the l,s-, abba --adaptatio OF ,sPe7
cies to soil and climate-it need not
take long to acquire much valuable in
formation in a direction which the
farmer could not accomplish himself
without too large an outlay of time to
make it profitable. These reports as to
best soil, general adaptation to climate,
ability to withstand drouth, succulence,
Weld, permanence and feeding value
may be considered within the legiti-
mate province of agricultural schools,
and certainly in no other one direction
could more valuable results be OBJ
tanned, and particularly with some Of
the more free-seeding prairie, plains,
mountain and Southern perennial
species. Some public institutions and
also individuals in widely-separated re-
gions Of country are already doing
Something in this line. 1t could be
much more successfully accomplished
by agricultural colleges through con-
certed action, as indicated;. and proba-
bly, no man in the country could indi-
cate species for trial more intelligentiy
than Dr. Vasey, the botaniSt of the de-
partment, himself Western man, and
one who has given special attention tc
the subject of grasses.
As indicating directions for expert
ment, it is believed that the prairie re.
zion to which the poas seem natural
and to which many are widely ind g
enous, as, for instance, fowl meadow
grass, North, and Texas bluegrass in
the Southwest, with the large number
of valuable species in the hills and val
leys of the Rocky Mountains, notably
the fescue grasses and other species
which 90 under the general name of
bunch grass. Among the genera which
seem to the writer as affording good
field for selection, including those OF
value in the South but not yet tested in
cultivation, and having a wide range of
habitation, of their species, may be
named: Agrastis, Alopecarus Andro-
pogon, Ammaphila, Agropyrum' Bonte-
iona Bromus, DeyeniXia, Elymus, Fes-
+,,oo Yoo1oria Muhlan hprpia OrVXOO-