Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1878 [PAGE 282]

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pectinacea, native, L a p h a m . var. spectabilis, native, L a p h a m . FESTUCA, Fescue Grass. tenella, native, L a p h a m ; Champaign county. ovina, Sheep's Fescue, cultivated from northward. " I t forms an excellent p a s t u r a g e for s h e e p . ' ' —Flint elatior Taller or Meadow Fescue, naturalized from Europe, Cook county, Babcock. " I t is a nutritive and productive grass, growing naturally in shady wood and moist stiff soils."—Flint " O n e of o u r best grasses and producing a large bulk of very nutritious grass highly relished by c a t t l e ; does not a t t a i n its full growth u n t i l three years from the time of sowing."—Gibson, of New Y o r k Mills. " A valuable grass,'' -Darlington. n u t a n s , native, L a p h a m ; Cook county, Babcock; Champaign county. BROMUS, Brame Grass. secalinus, Cheat or Chess, adventive from Europe, L a p h a m ; Cook county, Babcock. kalmii, Wild Chess, native, L a p h a m ; Cook county, Babcock. ciliatus, L. racemosus, L. UNIOLA, Spike Horse. latifolia, native, L a p h a m . PHRAGMITES, Reed Grass. communis, native, L a p h a m ; Cook county, Babcock. Said to be the largest grass in the United States. Champaign county. ARUNDINARIA, Cane. macrosperma, Large Cane, native, L a p h a m . tecta, Small Cane, Wabash county, Ridgeway. The3e two species of cane are not a p p a r e n t l y distinguished in t h e accounts of early settlers, nor by early botanists; b u t one or t h e other or both were common in southern Illinois in t h e early day. Lapham says of the first: " S o u t h e r n Illinois and Indiana, extending u p t h e Ohio river to the falls at New A l b a n y . " Gray, in his earlier edition of t h e Manual, recognizes but one species with a variation in the small cane. In the later edition he makes t h e two species, and seems t o confine t h e larger species t o t h e s o u t h e r n region below Illinois. Governor Reynolds, in his Pioneer History, gives the following: ' A l l along the Ohio river and u p t h e Mississippi to Muddy river, and sometimes higher, t h e cane grew so thick and strong t h a t m a n or beast could scarcely p e n e t r a t e it. These were called brakes, and were so thick and m a t t e d together t h a t deer, buffalo, horses and other animals were completely housed and sheltered from the storms. H u n t e r s say t h e y have often heard buffaloes, in t h e winter, bellowing in these canebrakes as if it were s u m m e r in the p r a i r i e s . " In Smith county, Tennessee, to-day, as in Illinois seventy-five years ago, canebrakes are used as winter p a s t u r e s . " W i t h p r o p e r care we can again soon have cane for our cattle to live upon in t h e winter; and it is a nutritious food for t h e m . The destruction is caused by t h e stock eating u p t h e young, tender, sweet stalks t h a t come u p in t h e spring. But if this y o u n g cane is k e p t free from t h e depredations of stock until winter, it t h e n becomes hard and t h e stock will only eat off t h e rich foliage, which p u t s o u t again n e x t spring. This I know by experience. I have a small c a n e b r a k e made in this way, and a neighbor has about one hundred acres cane raised in the same m a n n e r . " — R e s o u r c e s of Tennessee, p . 819. LEPTURUS. paniculatus, native, L a p h a m ; Mead. LOLIUM, Darnel. perenne Common Da:*nel, Ray or Rye Grass, cultivated from Europe, of doubtful value. italicum, cultivated from E u r o p e . Said to e n d u r e t h e climate of Australia well TRITICUM, Wheat. repens, Couch, Quitch or Quick Grass, native, Vasey; Cook county, Babcock. caninum, Armed Wheat Grass, naturalized from Europe, Vasey. vulgare, Common Wheat, cultivated from the old world, where it is found in t h e remains of the Lake Dwellings. Now grown nearly all over the world, b u t not so far north as rye, oats and barley, which are harder. Its production in t h e United States and Illinois is Year. 1850 1860 1870 1870 Production. Wheat, bushels United States. 100,485,944 173,104,924 112,549,733 175,195,893 Illinois. 9,414,575 23,837,023 10,133,207 19,995,198

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Illinois lead all other states in Wheat Production. Winter wheat was r e p o r t e d as grown in every c o u n t y except Stark. Spring wheat was reported from 80;counties, and 22 (all s o u t h e r n counties) reported n o n e . The winter wheat is mostly grown south of Springfield. St. Clair, Madison, P i k e and Randolph produced the g r e a t e s t aggregate yield. The acerage of wheat in Illinois since 1870, is reported to t h e auditor as follows: