the Board of Control, to a true statement from the books of account of the institution named, and that the above is the seal of the State Agricultural Experiment Station of Nevada

S. A. JONES,

Director of the Experiment Station.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Of the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station.

Receipts:

From the Treasurer of the United States, as per appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, under Act of Congress, approved March 2, 1887_

$15,000 00

Disbursements:

Amount paid out upon warrants Nos. 169 to 521 inclusive, drawn by the Board of Control of the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station--

$15,000 00

I hereby certify that the above is a full and correct report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890.

T. R. HOFER, Treasurer.

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that the above is the signature of T. R. Hofer, Treasurer of the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station, S. A. JONES, Director.

GRASSES.

W. S. DEVOL, AGRICULTURIST AND HORTICULTURIST.

Three-fourths of an acre of stiff clay soil were given to experiments in the growth of varieties of grasses and forage plants. The ground had been in use as an alfalfa field and was with difficulty prepared for seeding. It was practically impossible to remove all the alfalfa roots in season for proper seeding at the first date. The ground was put in fairly good condition, without the application of manures, however, and on the first of May most of the The area was divided into thirty plots, each

seeding was done.

two rods square, containing one fortieth of an acre each. One row of six plots could not be prepared for seeding until June 10, as a sewer was being laid through the section.

Upon these plots twenty-eight varieties of grasses and forage plants were sown, and four varieties of lawn and meadow mixtures, two of the plots being divided into halves.

Few questions are of greater practical importance to Nevada ranchmen than that of forage for cattle, sheep and horses. The live-stock interest in the State has become second to none. When

an abundance of water can be obtained for irrigation it is known that bountiful harvests of forage can be grown. The yields of alfalfa are often enormous. Can equally large crops of so valuable a plant of some other variety be grown and without requiring so much water? It may be possible to obtain such a plant, and if it should be done it would add millions to the wealth of our State. It will require a number of years' careful experimenting to answer this question, and at the Experiment Station is the place it must be done.

Following is a list of the grasses and other forage plants sown in 1889: Texas Blue Grass, Poa arachnifera. Blue Grass, Poa pratense. Fowl Meadow Grass, Poa serotina. Wood Meadow Grass, Poa nemoralis. Red Top, Agrostis vulgaris. Creeping Bent Grass, Agrostis stolonifera. Orchard Grass, Agrostis glomerata. Timothy, Phleum pratense. Italian Rye Grass, Lolium italicum. Perennial Rye Grass, Lolium perenne. Meadow Fescue, Festuca pratense. Taller Fescue, Festuca elatior. Red Fescue, Festuca rubra. Tall Meadow Oat Grass, Avena elatior. Meadow Foxtail, Alopecurus pratensis. Bermuda Grass, Cynoden dactylon. Velvet Grass, Holcus lanatus. Johnson Grass, Sorghum halopense. Sweet Vernal Grass, Anthoxanthum odoratum. Hungarian Grass, Sitaria italica. Golden Millet, Sitaria italica. Pearl Millet, Penicellaria spicata. Red Clover, Trifolium pratense. White Clover, Trifolium repens. Alsike Clover, Trifolium hybridum. Japan Clover, Lespideza spicata. Spike Clover, Sweet Clover, Melolotus alta. Alfalfa Luzerne, Medicago sativa. Espercette-Burnet, Onobrychis sativa; Seradella, Ornithopus sativus.

Following are, descriptive notes and observations made on the varieties and growth here last year and during the spring of 1890: Poa arachnifera (Texas blue grass). The specific name, arachnifera, of this variety comes from the profuse hairiness of the flower and seeds. The web was so abundant about the seeds sowed that it was with difficulty that they could be separated sufficiently to seed well. It is a native of Texas, and is there a fine grass for winter pasture, growing more luxuriantly and larger than Kentucky blue or June grass. It is grown from seeds and divisions of roots. sends out numerous stolons, or offshoots, and spreads rapidly by these means. There is reason to believe that this may be found to be a valuable pasture grass for many portions of the State. The

It

few stalks that came up bloomed early this year at a heighth of two feet, and the seed ripened the first week in June.

Poa pratensis (June Grass, Blue Grass, Kentucky Blue Grass). This is the most widely distributed and best known of the orchard grasses. Few if any of the other grasses thrive so well under close grazing and continuous tramping by the stock. It forms a very close, compact sward, and remains green and growing throughout the summer and fall months, and even in winter. For these reasons it is a most valuable grass for lawns. It does not stand drougth well, and for this reason is not a desirable grass for localities where water can not be got. It thrives best in a limestone soil, but may be grown successfully on soil of almost any character, so it be of moderate fertility. It is found native in most parts of the United States and Europe. The average height of this grass is one and onehalf to two feet, but it varies from a few inches to three or four feet. It is not valuable for hay crops, as the stalks and leaves are too short and sparing at any one time to afford a sufficiently abundant crop. It is one of the most nutritious of all grasses. The plot sowed April 23, 1889, did not bloom that season, but grew to be six inches tall. This season there is a good sward formed and the stalks twelve to eighteen inches tall.

Poa serotina (Fowl Meadow Grass). This grass is a native of the eastern part of northern United States, and grows most profusely along river bottoms and where it is likely to be flooded occasionally. The stalks grow in favorable localities to a height of two to three feet, and are always soft and palatable to stock, so that it is fed without waste. It thrives in a variety of soils, but does best in rich, moist situations and takes congenially to other grasses in mixed seeding. It is highly nutritious and liked by cattle. It blooms a little late about with Timothy-and produces an abundance of seed. It starts into growth after cutting, but slowly. It was planted here May 1, 1889, and made but very little growth the first season. This season there are no plants found living.

Poa nemoralis (Wood Meadow Grass). Like the preceding, this grass does best in moist situations, and is also a good grass to put in rather shaded localities, as in open forests and orchards. It is a perennial and the root stalk is creeping, something like Blue Grass. It grows about two feet tall and flowers in June, the seed ripening in July. It was planted in the Station grounds May 1, 1889, and came into bloom late in August at a height of eight inches. The fine, narrow blades were five inches long. This year (1890) it was in full bloom in the middle of June. Although there was but little water in the plot and the growth light, the stalks reached a height of twelve to fifteen inches.

Agrostis vulgaris (Red Top, Bent Grass). This is one of the best known of our native or wild grasses, flourishing in rich lands, especially in wet situations. It has also been known to do fairly well in

dry and gravelly soils. After being started by seeds it spreads by means of creeping root-stalks, or stolons, forming a tough matted turf very much like that of Blue Grass. It is very nutritious, ranking almost with Blue Grass, and its chief value is a pasture grass. It was sown here April 23, 1889, and made but poor growth the first season. The average height was twenty-six inches, and the blades were one foot long. This season there is a good sward formed and the panicles began to protrude at a height of ten inches the second week in June. It is a hardy perennial and blooms with Timothy, or a very little later.

Agrostis stolonifera (Creeping Bent Grass). This is a perennial grass, prostrate in habit, spreading rapidly by stolons, but requiring a great deal of water to start the seeds. The foliage is of a bright, lively green and produced in abundance, making it a desirable grass for grazing. Like the last named it does best on low, moist ground, and is most desirable as a pasture grass on wet irrigated fields. At the Nebraska Station it is considered valuable only for lawns, but the growth here last season and this, indicates a very valuable pasture grass where sufficient water can be secured. It was seeded June 10, 1889, and none came up except along the irrigating ditches in bunches. This season it spread rapidly early in the season and continued to cover the ground. By the 10th of June it was fifteen to eighteen inches high and the panicles appearing.

Dactylis glomerata (Orchard Grass). This is a light green, perennial grass of a rough, coarse nature, growing from two to four feet tall. It starts into growth early in the spring, and blooms with red clover, hence is a most valuable grass to sow with red clover to support the latter. It grows remarkably well in shaded situations, whence the name "Orchard Grass." Unless seeded very thickly it grows in dense clumps, or tufts, making a very objectional feature. The growth of stems is not very abundant, but the growth of leaves is great. It is therefore a valuable pasture grass. It springs up very quickly after cutting, and is a nutritious grass. It succeeds best in a rather high locality, or in one well drained, artificially or naturally, as the blades are apt to be affected with rust in very wet situations. Part of a plot was seeded with this variety April 23, and part May 1st, 1889, and by the last of August there was no difference between the two seedings. No flowering stalks were produced, but a good even growth of leaves two feet long was obtained. This year there was a good uniform growth, two feet high in bloom June 10th."

Phleum pratense (Timothy). This is the commonest and most widely known of the hay grasses in the United States. It is a hardy perennial grass with fibrous roots and the base of the stalk usually enlarged into a bulbous mass. No other variety of grass is so generally recognized by farmers, and there is but one variety-Meadow Foxtail that is often mistaken for Timothy, but differs in general

appearance in being of a shorter growth and the heads or spikes shorter and slightly tapering.

The stalks of Timothy are stiff, two to three feet tall, bearing few short flat leaves, which cure rather tough and do not break badly in handling. The proportion of stalk to leaves is large. The season of harvesting this grass for hay extends over a larger period than any other variety, for it makes valuable hay from the time of beginning to bloom until the seed is almost ripe. This is not a suitable grass for grazing, as it does not spring up quickly after being cut and close feeding injures the bulb-like enlargement at the base of the stalk, and eventually kills the plant. It was sown at the Station May 1, 1889, and made a spare growth. The average height of the scattering stalks was twenty-six inches, and of the blades from the roots one foot. The growth this season has been but little better.

Lolium italicum (Italian Rye Grass). This variety of Rye Grass stands drought remarkably well, and in many localities, especially in the South, takes the place of Timothy. It is a grass well suited to irrigated meadows, but has been known to be killed and rotted by a period of very wet weather followed by very hot weather. It is considered an annual in the Northern States, although when pastured or cut closely it lives from year to year. It is often injured by severe winters. In the South it is perennial, growing from two to four feet high. The leaves are long and slender and of a bright shining green color. The leaves and stalks are tender and animals are fond of it. It was sown here April 23, 1889, and made a fine heavy growth the first year. This year the growth was fair, but variable, and it bloomed June 10th to 15th at a height of fourteen to twenty inches. The blades alone grew twenty-two inches long last

season.

Lolium perenne (Perennial Rye Grass). This is a species of which the former is by botanists frequently considered but a variety rather than a distinct species. Like the former it is frequently regarded as an annual, or biennial in the northern and a perennial in the southern United States. Both species seed very abundantly. The blades of this are somewhat narrower than are those of the

Italian rye grass. It was sown upon the Experiment Station grounds May 1, 1889 and made a thick matted growth last year, but not equal to the Italian. It reached an average height of twelve inches. This season it did not grow so tall nor cover the ground so well as the Italian rye. It has this season a reddish cast about the base of the stalks. The average height, June 10, 1890 was ten to twelve inches.

Festuca pratense (Meadow Fescue). By some botanists this and the following are regarded as but varieties of one species. This is a perennial, growing from 1 to 2 feet tall, with usually nodding panicles. The leaves are broad and flat. It is one of the standard grasses of Europe and is now being quite extensively