36 PROCEEDINGS AT BOARD MEETINGS. 



into some of the Highland districts of Scotland, might prove a valuable acqui- 

 sition. It grows only in the interior, not at the sea coast ; and in those 

 inland districts where artificial provender is not yet produced in any quantity, 

 horses, mules, and horned cattle gain strength and thrive upon it better than 

 upon any artificially grown food. The small quantity now sent in a letter is 

 merely a forerunner of more, which I mean to send to you by some other 

 mode of conveyance than by post. 



" The first object is to ascertain if it will grow in Scotland. It thrives 

 better upon moist soil than upon dry. Its history has been little attended to, 

 and what is known of it is from the experience of transient equestrian travel- 

 lers and cattle dealers, who supply the miners in the districts with meat. 

 There are several varieties of it in different districts, all equally valuable. It 

 grows in large bunches, about one and a half to two feet in height, standing a 

 foot or two feet apart. When eaten down by cattle it is said not to grow 

 again from the same roots, wild sage taking its place. It is a question if it 

 produces seed every year ; and the seed may require two years to germinate. 

 The seed will likely enable you to give it a botanical place." 



The second communication, dated 8th February 1866, is as follows : — 

 " On the 18th December last, I had the pleasure of addressing you, trans- 

 mitting a preliminary sample of the seed of a very valuable grass, called the 

 bunch grass, indigenous to the elevated interior parts of British Columbia, and 

 along the range of the Rocky Mountains, in the hope that upon trial such a 

 grass might prove valuable in the Highlands of Scotland. I have now the 

 pleasure of sending an additional sample." 



Mr Cormack gives the following particulars concerning this plant, which 

 had been supplied to him by an observant traveller in the interior : — " The 

 nutritious qualities of the bunch grass of British Columbia are really surpris- 

 ing. It grows in very poor sandy, gravelly soil, and at very high altitudes, 

 even several thousand feet above the level of the sea, and seems to grow well 

 in places where there is little or no other vegetation. All kinds of live stock 

 fatten very rapidly on bunch grass ; and the packers in this country burn off 

 the old dry grass in the fall of the year, so that they may have a fresh supply 

 of young grass for their horses and mules in the spring. It makes very good 

 hay, and when perfectly dry loses none of its nutritious qualities." 



With the third letter from Mr Cormack, the Society received three other 

 species of indigenous grasses from Lake la Hache, near the Cariboo district, as 

 well as the following particulars concerning them : — 



" No. 1. Found on comparatively low ground ; height, 3 feet to 3 feet 6 

 inches. No. 2. A Timothy, on low, loamy soil and marshes ; height, 6 feet to 6 

 feet 6 inches. No. 3. Red top, found on comparatively low ground and marshes ; 

 height, 3 feet 3 inches to 3 feet 6 inches. The red top is allowed by graziers 

 and travellers to be equally valuable with the bunch grass ; and the other 

 two sorts, Nos. 1 and 2, are evidently well worth a trial." 



Under the instructions of the Directors, the late Secretary lost no time in 

 placing the seeds, along with the explanatory notes, in the hands of two emi- 

 nent nurserymen of Edinburgh (Messrs Robert T. Mackintosh and Peter S. 

 Robertson), who kindly undertook to prove the seeds ; and the reports of 

 these gentlemen have just been received. 



Mr Mackintosh's statement is as follows : — " Referring to the grasses that 

 were sent to me by the late Mr Hall Maxwell to prove and report upon, I 

 beg to say that I sowed said seeds, and watched their growth very narrowly. 

 I have to inform you, however, that out of the four samples sent me only two 

 vegetated — No. 1 and No. 4 — and which are quite up to the description that 

 ttccompanied them. No. 1, in my opinion, is too much allied to the bent 

 grasses of our country to be any great acquisition to our already numerous family 

 of grasses. No. 4 I think differently of, from its appearance and succulent na- 

 ture ; growing on poor soils in high situations, it might prove a very valuable 



