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The Country Gcntlcmaiis Magazine 



Gloucestershire, to " complete a small collec- 

 tion of the grass seeds for which a premium 

 has been offered by the Society for three 

 years past," and his only recommendation of 

 it was its being the "easiest of the whole group 

 to collect a quantity of seed from." J. Ander- 

 son of Monkshill, Aberdeenshire, tigured the 

 C. cristatus in his Essays relating to Agri- 

 cultural and Rural Affairs, published in 

 1784, and recommended it for cultivation; 

 but Sinclair, in his AVobum experiments, found 

 its weight of produce to be considerably under 

 that of the perennial rye-grass, or only at the 

 rate per acre of 6125 lb. at flowering, when 



I'.acl; 



of Spik 



Splkclet magnified. 



gTDwn on a brown loam with manure, 12,251 

 lb. at seed ripening, and 3403 lb. of lattemiath. 

 Yet he recommends it for forming a sward of 

 the best quality, particularly under circum- 

 stances v.'here sheep are a principal object, 

 and adds, that in all the most celebrated pas- 

 tures he had examined, it constituted a very 

 considerable portion of the produce ; and in 

 some part of Windsor Park it constituted the 

 principal part of the herbage on which the 

 deer and Southdown sheep browsed. Doubt- 

 less the crested dog's-tail grass owes much of 

 the recommendations bestowed upon it by 

 early cultivators, to its natural association with 

 much superior grasses in the best meadow and 

 pasture land, and perhaps not a little to its 

 abundant production of easily harvested seed 



and its consequent cheapness ; but agricul- 

 turists now look upon it as an unworthy oc- 

 cupant of good soils, which might be more 

 profitably filled with much more valuable 

 kinds. If they admit its presence as being 

 essential in mixtures for good sound sheep 

 pasturage, it is only so far as it is certain to be 

 produced from the natural presence of its seeds 

 in the soil. Hence it should only be sown in 

 mixtures for ornamental short grass, for which 

 it is one of the most suitable of the flat-leaved 

 grasses, in consequence of the firm compact 

 turf which it forms, and its non-liability to 

 suffer from excessive droughts. Cobbett and 

 other writers recommended the C. cristatus as 

 one of the best grasses for manufacturing into 

 straw plait, a purpose for which rye, and the 

 small bearded wheat, called Grano marzolano 

 by the Italians, are now almost exclusively 

 employed. In case any of our lady readers 

 should wish to try the preparation and plaiting 

 of this native grass, we give the following 

 directions for their guieiance :— ist. Collect 

 the stems about flowering time, and select that 

 portion only of each between the upper joint 

 and the base of the spike; place them in 

 boiling water for ten minutes, and then spread 

 them out to bleach for ten days. 2d, Gather 

 and prepare them as in the last case, put them 

 in boiling water for one hour, then spread out 

 and keep regularly moistened for two days;, 

 after which place them in a close vessel, and 

 apply the fumes of burning sulphur for two 

 hours ; or, 3d, They may be bleached in half- 

 an-hour, by first placing them for ten minutes 

 in a strong solution of acetic acid, and then 

 subjecting them for twenty minutes to the 

 vapours of sulphureous acid gas. 



SEED AND SOWING. 



The seeds of the crested dog's-tail are 

 heavier than those of most other -grasses, 

 averaging about 26 lb. per bushel ; and being 

 small in size, they are easily separated or 

 cleaned from others which may have been 

 grown and harvested along with them. When 

 ripened and secured in dry sunny weather the 

 colour is brightish yellow, which, however, is 

 easily tarnished and changed to a dull brown 

 if subjected to unfavourable wet weather. 



