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TJic Country Gcntkumn's Magazine 



acres lying waste wliich are capable of being 

 reclaimed. Land improvement lies at the 

 foundation of all other improvements in an 

 agricultural sense, and this neglect of the sub- 

 ject to which our remarks refer is not the onh" 

 instance in which the English Royal has put 

 the cart before the horse. 



The Irish Royal Agricultural Society is also 

 restricted in its operations in this department 

 of rural advancement. Want of sufficient 

 funds has been stated as the excuse for the 

 slight attention which the Irish Royal has 

 paid to this matter, and it is a shame that 

 such an excuse can be pled with truth, for 

 the list of members of that Society comprises 

 but a comparatively small proportion of the 

 names of those who ought to be connected with 

 it. It is true, as stated in the paper on the 

 " Irish Land Question," which appeared in our 

 last impression, that there is much land in Ire- 

 land " which needs nothing but cultivation," 

 that can be purchased in fee for little more 



than tlie sum which would be required to 

 reclaim what is usually known as waste 

 land; and for a considerable time the energies 

 of improvers in that part of the kingdom will 

 naturally be directed to the amelioration of 

 land of that description. There are, never- 

 theless, many instances of reclamation to be 

 met with in Ireland, as well as the improve- 

 ment of previously cultivated but deteriorated 

 land, and those instances will yet, it is to 

 be hoped, stimulate and encourage others. 

 We would merely observe, in concluding our 

 remarks for the present on this subject, that 

 it is Avell to bear in mind that the soil is a 

 talent committed to our charge, for the abuse 

 or neglect of which we are accountable. The 

 food requirements of the people of this coun- 

 try are daily becoming more pressing, and, as 

 a zealous advocate for agricultural improve- 

 ment has said, " If it be a sin to waste bread, 

 surely it is wrong to waste that which may be 

 made to produce it." 



GRASSES FOR PERMANENT PASTURE. 

 NO. IV. — FESTUCA LOLIACEA * {Hudson) — Spiked Fescue-Grass. 



Synonyms — Festuca pauicida spicata, of Royen, in Flora Leydensis, 1 740 ; Fcstuca cioitgata, of Ehrhart ; 

 Biicetiiin loliacciim loitgigliinie, of Parnell ; Schcdononts loliacciis, of Dumort ; Daniel or Ryc-grass-likc 



DESCRIPTION. 



ROOT fibrous, perennial; leafy stems nu- 

 merous, lower ones spreading and root- 

 ing on the surface of the ground. The root 

 leaves of this species being as broad or broader 

 than those of the stem, it was, along with 

 F. pratensis (p. 55) and F. elatior (p. 59), 

 transferred by Dr Parnell to the new genus 

 Bucetum, and it differs from all the other Fescue- 

 grasses in its inflorescence being racemed 

 or spiked instead of panicled — resembling in 

 this respect the common rye-grass, but differ- 

 ing from it in the spikelets being shortly 



* From the Celtic Fest, pasturage, and Loliiim, die 

 generic name of the rye-grass. 



stalked, furnished with two unequal-sized 

 calyx scales instead of one, and in their flat 

 sides, instead of their edges, being usually 

 turned towards the rachis or centre. Stems 

 three- or four-jointed, averaging about tv.'O 

 feet in length, but attaining to thirty inches 

 in very good soils ; of a weak and somewhat 

 straggling-like habit of growth, and abundantly 

 furnished with tenderish root-foliage. Usually 

 in flower about the middle of July, but seldom 

 or never producing perfect seeds ; a peculiarity 

 which has led to the belief that it is a mere 

 hybrid or mule — either between the common 

 rye-grass and the floating sweet-grass (Glyceria 

 fluitans), orbetween the former and the Festuca 

 pratensis. If a hybrid at all, it certainly par- 



