The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-16

AS~I "|N -
cattle find to eat2" But the satisfied cat
Ito, like the heather Chinee whom the poet
says "kept on washing" keepi on feeding
not on brown clay and stones, but on grasses
whose juices have in them condensed sub
stances relatively AZ rich as cur jewels are
above in value the pebbles OF eastern
streams.
l have now on record lob species OF
grasses, known to be growing in Montana
besides tho cultivated cereals and grains
There are undoubtedly many more. These
1903 species include only those seen by my
self or my friend DR.. +, w. Anderson, re-
Gently resident of Great Falls, but now as
sistant editor of the American Agricultural.
Two workers. however interchangeable and
persevering. cannot cover the whole ground
in such a state az Montana, more than twice
the size of all New England herself. Our
state botany has never yet been edited and
classified by anybody. In all the college
herbaria Of the east, especially Yale ana
Harvard; also in the government colleo-
tions at Washington, and in many private
collections, such as those of the Hon. Can
by. Rushby, Soribner, Brandegee. L. l..
Green, N. l.. Britton and many others, are
CACCOAillkly Nulu0bAO SA"s
Inspection and editing and publishing by
some Montana botanist and specialist. At
present the state is neglected because no
man of wealth is willing to give material
support to any specialist while he is upon
this important work, ut once u matter of
state pride and profit. Meanwhile all that
can be done has to be lone by men like the
writer, who gives to it all the time he can
take from a busy city pastorate.
OF these 1O3 different kinds of grasses
now known to the writer to exist in Mon
tsna many are especially valuable to our
stock industry. 1t was these native grasses
that sustained she innumerable multltudes
of buffalo that ranged over our plains and
mountains and grew fat.
Some of our most prominent native
grasses are the following:
1. 'Blue-ioint." or 'blue-stem,'' or
'wheat-grass." The scientific name of this
"agropyrum glaucum,' Il. d s.. 1t is read
lily distinguished by its rich and thrifty ap-
pearance n a bluish,. glaucous hue, some
what like the hue on a cabbage leaf. It
does not tend to bunch itself and is not one
of the bunch grasses of which we hear 80
much. 1t loves meadows or plains and
tends to form a continuous sod of rich
fodder, yielding under favorable conditions
three tons to the acre. II seldom under the
s~everest trials and difficulties yields less
than one ton to the acre. These statements
apply to native sod and not to cultivation,
which would very heavily increase the yield.
Prof. Scribner says, Its quality is unsur-
passed. and the same opinion of its value
is held by stockmen in Nebraska, Colorado.
New Mexico, and, indeed, in all our Rocky
Mountain region. This grass grows abund-
antly all over our valleys about Helena.
The region about Fort Benton is especially
mentioned by Hon. George Vasey in a gov
eminent report. There are several differ
ent kinds of these agropyrums and all of
them are valuable forage plants; some
would we'll repay cultivation.
2. Another abundant grass is sadly too
we'll known BY ranchmen and stockmeu by
the common names of "Foxtail' and
Squirrel grass" Its scientific name is
Hordeum jubatum. It grows rather short,
and belongs to the barley family. The
spikes when young and green have very
long bristles which give it a very marked
Characterization. Everybody in Montana
is acquainted with it, alas, to their sorrow.
If the grass be cut when the flowers are yet
in bud, the bristles are easily managed by
horses and cattle; but if left till the seeds
are ripening the bristles become very dan
gerous to animals who are forced to eat it
in hay. 1t is a perfect curse wherever it
grows, and it is capable of growing every
where. / do not believe any animal ever
eats it, if left to choose what to eat. This
comes not because the leaves and stems are
distasteful. but because the long bristles
are SO difficult to manage. The sooner this
weed can be eradicated, the better for all
concerned. Flowing under is the only
remedy.
3. Beckmannia eruceformis. Host.
Slough Grass" This grass loves the damp
meadows. 1t grows from six inches up to
three feet in height, surmounted by a pani-
Gle of spikelets crowded together in such
fashion rs once seen is never to be forgot
ten. 1t is a widely spread grass growing in
spots from the Mississippi river westward
to the Pacific ocean. 1t forms q profitable
crop for damp meadows, and its ripe spikes
cause no injury to cattle. Without careful
pictures it is difficult to describe these
grasses 80 as to be understood, except by
the professional botanist.
A. "Cord grass "Marsh grass" This
is called also by a long and difficult Latir
name, Spartina cynosuroides, Wild. L
grows abundantly in meadows near Helena.
Its height from two feet to six. 1t is a stiff
coarse, reed-like grass, and is never eater
by stock. In the Mississippi valley it ha:
been utilized by being made into paper.
.. Phalaris arundinacea, l., called 'reet
canary grass bears a good reputation
Notwithstanding it il a coarse grass; it
spikes of seeds are very rich and much en-.
joyed by horses and cattle. 1t is fount
) from New England to the Pacific and ais,
I in northern Europe.
6. "Grama grass" Bouteloua oligos
tachya, Torr. Its home is from the Sas
J, katchewan to Texas, Mexico and southern
California, and everywhere it is priced a
, the richest kind of feed for cattle. Mon
tana is blest with a fine supply on all on
hills and plains and parks. In region
y farther south it goes by the name of meg
| quite" and some call it buffalo grass,
name very inappropriate, for the tru
buffalo grass 10 a very different kind of
q grass and probably does not grow in an
abundance in Montana, surely not With
reach of a radius of thirty miles aroun
Helena and Great Falls, for neither MI
Anderson nor myself has ever seen i
growing wild in Montana.
: u.