HOW THE BOTANIST DESCRIBES
CEREALS AND GRASSES
The roots of most kinds of grasses are persistent; the stems are hollow and knotty, and the leaves consist of sheaths and discs. Their flowers are arranged either in spikes or panicles, and are essentially the same in form as those of the herbs. In the interior there is an ovary, from which project two pistils with feathery styles. Close to the ovary are three stamens, with very long filaments and large anthers. These internal organs are generally surrounded by two tender bracts called the paleæ, and two harder outer bracts forming the glumes. In the grasses also self-fertilization does not take place, the wind here taking the place of the insects. Consequently the anthers are suspended from long filaments, and contain a quantity of pollen. As the grasses do not need to attract insects, their flowers are small with little color, and have no scent; nor do they secrete honey. The fruit is enclosed in a husk.
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is a cultivated hay and pasture plant, yielding per annum, without reseeding, three to six or more cuttings of hay, averaging a ton each and often much more, for an indefinite period. It is the richest forage plant known, and while old in history is comparatively new to the agriculture of North America.
Alfalfa thrives on all soils except those too wet or having too much acidity. The former calls for drainage and the latter demands lime. Besides its abundance of rich forage, the leaves of which approximate the value of wheat bran in animal rations, it is highly prized as a soil improver, as it restores and enriches the land in which it grows, and improves extraordinarily the physical character of the soil. Its roots reaching to great depths, make it drought-resistant; they also gather much nitrogen from the air, and it yields assuredly whether the season be wet or dry. It has been demonstrated the greatest fertilizing and soil renovating plant known to agriculture.
For hay it is cut whenever the first blossoms appear or when sprouts for a new growth from the root crowns are discovered, which in some regions is every month in the year. It is relished by all live stock, and is particularly valuable in dairy husbandry, affording at lowest cost important ingredients of the well balanced feeding ration. As pasturage it is excellent for hogs and horses, but ruminants, such as cattle and sheep are not safely grazed upon it, owing to its liability to cause bloat, which if not promptly treated may bring speedy death.
Alfalfa requires a carefully prepared seedbed, with a thoroughly fine, smooth surface, as the seeds are small. From fifteen to twenty pounds of seed per acre are generally sown, although often much more, or less, either with drills or broadcast, preferably in early fall and without a nurse crop. Where the winters are long or severe from two to ten tons of hay per acre in a season, and from two to seven bushels of seed.
Blue-Grass (Poa pratensis), frequently designated Kentucky Blue Grass, is a perennial, and the most highly prized pasture grass, but is not a profitable hay plant. Its growth has a wider range than timothy. It is sown in autumn or spring, the former being preferable, as it can endure cold better than heat, and thrives rather best when partially shaded. One approved way is to sow the seed on snow, where the ground is free from weeds. It is broadcasted at the rate of about one bushel of seed in the chaff to the acre. Blue-grass is an extremely aggressive and persistent plant voluntarily spreading among and displacing others where it has not been sown. Its taking possession of and thriving on land that has not been cultivated is not uncommon. The seed weighs fourteen pounds to the bushel.
English Blue-Grass or Meadow Fescue (Fescuta elatior) is a valuable and hardy grass either for mowing or pasture. It thrives on soils not too dry, and being long lived, is especially valuable for permanent pastures. It is sown either in the spring or fall, by drilling or broadcasting from one to three pecks per acre if for seed, and three pecks to an acre if for pasture. It is harvested and handled much the same as wheat. Kansas produces nearly seventy-five per cent of the seed raised in America and ninety per cent of the total for the United States is exported, Germany being the largest taker. This grass is very nutritious and grazing animals are fond of it. A bushel of seed weighs twenty-two pounds, and the yield of seed per acre is from five to fifteen bushels.
Brome-grass (Bromus inermis) is a vigorous, hardy perennial pasture and hay plant, with strong, creeping rootstocks, and is valuable for dry regions. It is not adapted to a rotation, as its sod becomes too matted and tough for comfortable cultivation. Owing to this tendency, after three or four years of hay cropping its better use is for pasture. It yields luxuriantly, is rich in flesh-forming elements, and much relished by farm animals. It is sown broadcast, in spring or fall, eighteen to twenty pounds of seed to the acre. The seed is chaffy and weighs but fourteen pounds per bushel.
Barley is grown chiefly in the states of Minnesota, California, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, in the order named, these states raising seventy-five per cent of the output grown in the United States. It is used as food for live stock, and as an article of commerce is in demand principally for the making of malt in brewing beer, but in California and other western states, where Indian corn does not flourish, barley is used as a substitute grain for horses and mules. About two bushels to the acre are sown in the spring, with [125] a drill or a broadcast seeder. It is admirably adapted as a nurse crop, as it stands up well and does not shade the ground so much as many other plants.