The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-09-25
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
GRASS LORE FOR FARMERS AND
OTHERS

II,
is a subject of primary interest to
farmers and to urban jewellers who
maintain lawns, but it is coming to
be of mora than incidental interest to
a large number of people who are
strangers to the hayrake and the
lawnmower. These are the golf
players of the nation, and their name
is legion. Golf has brought grass
into the lives of moro people than
any other one thing, save perhaps
| dairy farming and stock raising.
Accordingly O. V. Piper, one of the
experts of the Department of Agri-
culture, is assured of a wide audience
when he discusses grass In one OF the
official publications of the Depart
ment. That his subject is big one Is
Indicated by the fact that there are
some 5000 distinctive species OF grass
in the world. However, only about
SO are important cultivated plants,
and not more than 20 wild species
are abundant r valuable in any one
locality.
one of the first things Mr.. Piper
does is to explode the idea that
Kentucky blue grass originated in the
state it has made famous. One OF
these days the world will be astounded
to learn that the colonel also is not
INDIGENOUS to Kentucky!
Kentucky blue grass Is with the
possible exception of timothy the
most noted grass in America" says
Mr.. Piper. Perhaps on account of
the famous blue grass country IN
Kentucky the opinion PREVAILS that
this grass is a true native. Such,
however is not the case, and blue
grass did not grow in Kentucky when
Boone discovered that attractive re-
gion Like most of our best cuIti-
waited grasses. blue grass is a native
of the >0ld World, where it occurs
naturally over much of Europe ana
Asia.
ut was brought over by the early
colonists as one of he-spec1es con-
tanned in mixed grass seeds, and like
some at the others found the soil and
climate conditions eongenia1. The
name Bile grass has been supposed
to be due to the purplish color of the
flowers, but there is good evidence
that the name was first applied to
Canada blue grass, which has blush
foliage, and was later transferred to
the green plant now called Kentucky
blue grass.
Found in Many States
"KeRtlIeky blue grass is well known
for the beautiful lawns which 1t
makes as well as for the highly nutri-
tious pasturage which it furnishes:
It occurs throughout the northern
half of the United States, except
where the climate is too dry. In the
mountains and on the Pacific Coast
ward. Seed of Kentucky blue grass
is harvested mainly in Kentucky, but
more or less in Missouri and Iowa
also"
Not everything that looks like grass
is grass, but grasses are easily dis
tinguished from all other plants by
several peculiar characteristics. From
the expert we learn that the roots of
all, whether ANIMALS or perennials,
are slender and thread-like. The
stems are 5ointed, usually cylindrical
and commonly hollow, but solid in
such species as corn and sorghum.
In the bamboo and a few other
grasses the stems are woody. The
joint is called a node and the part
between the joints is an internode.
narrow, parallel veined, and are
attached at the nodes, first on one
side and then on the other, 80 that
they are in two ranks.
The lower part of the leaf encireles
the stem as a sheath, while the upper
flattened. In some grasses the blades
are folded, in others inrolled in the
bud. Where the blade and the sheath
JOIN the texture and color are usually
different, this Joining part being
known as the collar.
The flower clusters of grasses ex-
hibit a great many forms and many
grasses may at once be recognized by
the forms of these clusters Each
branch appears from the base of an
leaves or rudiments of leaves do not
occur in the flower cluster.
Most people do not think of
corn. wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice,
sugar-cane, and the like as grass, but
such is their botanical classification.
on the other hand, the term grass is
popularity applied to all the green
heritage on which cattle and other
animals feed, and this would include
many plants which are not botanieally
related 10 the true grasses, such as
the clovers, alfalfa, ct cetera. The
grasses furnish the principal food for
both man and beast and are the
foundations of agriculture.
Singularly enough. the most I'M
portant grasses, the cereals, are not
cultivation extends SO far back into
antiquity that even their places of
origin are unknown, Either their
wild counterparts have become ex-
tinct, or the cereals have been so de-
veloped and changed by cultivation
that their wild forms are no longer
recognizable.
Many Species i'm This Country
Altogether there are about 1,400
species of grass growing in the United
States. In one state alone, Washing
ton, some 275 species are found. Orig
inally almost one-half the area of the
United States consisted of prairies, the
principal herbage of which was
grasses, and the existence of this vast
domain of grassland has never been
fully explained, since it has been dis
covered that trees grow readily
enough on these prairies once they
have been introduced there.
OF all the hay grasses cultivated in
the United States, timothy is by far
the most important, its acreage being
four times as great as that of all the
others put together, and equalling
that of all hay plants, including clover
and alfalfa.
Timothy had become the most i'm
portant hay grass in the United States
as early as 1907" says Mr.. Piper,
land it has since held this position
unchallenged. Its reputation as a feed
depends upon its high palatability.
combined with moderate nutritive val
ne, 50 that it is practically impossible
to injure an animal by overlooking.
tRedtop is the only grass of much
prominence as a hay plant among the