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Show New Grass Proves Drowth Resistant Farmers of Utah may son be growing a new drowth resistant forage grass on their ranges and in their -pastures as a result of experiments experi-ments conducted in collaboration with the Utah State Agricultural cc-llcge, the U S. department of agriculture ag-riculture and the fjrest- service, reports Dr. Wesley. Keller of the U S D A bureau of plant . industiy. The new grass, Agropyron elongatum elonga-tum belongs to the wheat grass family and, while it is still in the experimental stage, shows promise of being superior , to drowth resisting resist-ing perennial grasses rceommended I to farmers at the present time according ac-cording to Dr. Keller. The seed for' experimentation came from Turkey and was planted last spring on an unused' dry farm plot near Tooele. Both crested wheat and the experimental grass seedlings were planted among weeds already growing on the land. The number of surviving crested wheat grass plants was negligible while 70 to 80 per cent of the agropyron elongatum plants survived. The new variety is a perennial heavier than crested wheat grass. The leaves are heavy and ribbed more like western wheat. The heads are about a foot long and are bome on a thick stem. One of the outstading features of the plant is Its large seed which can be planted deeper than most grasses. This enables it to get a better bet-ter start even under dry conditions because of the deeper root system. Like crested wheat grass, agropyron agro-pyron elongatum starts growth early and the seed will germinate at relatively rel-atively low tempeartures. Drowth resistance of the two grasses is about equal. The coarseness of the plant would seem to indicate that it is not so palatable as crested wheat, but it is a late maturing plant, while crested wheat matures early, becoming dry and unpalatable as soon as i't ripens. |