288 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



Michigan, for twelve years or more, has seen it in some other localities in the 

 State, and thinks he can tell why there are such conflicting opinions in rela- 

 tion to its value. In England the climate is moist, and the finer succulent 

 grasses thrive well, while tall oat grass does better in a hotter, dryer climate. 

 He has had occasion to kill several plats and has had no more trouble with it 

 than in killing so much timothy. There are some bulbs on the sort raised 

 in Michigan, but they are not hard to kill. Like orchard grass it ripens 

 very quickly after blooming, and to make good hay there must be no delay 

 in cutting. As it blossoms rather early, many let it go too long before 

 cutting, when the stems become woody and of poor quality. Again, bad 

 weather often interferes with the cutting just at the right time, and poor 

 hay is the result. A man doesn't want a very large quantity of this grass to 

 mow, unless he is prepared to cut it all in a day or two. It makes a fine 

 growth the first season after sowing, and if sown alone will cut a good crop 

 of hay. 



I find that stock eat the grass well, though most likely they would prefer 

 to have some grass not so bitter for a part of the time. The seed is rather 

 light, weighing fourteen pounds to the bushel in the chaff. About two 

 bushels to the acre are usually sown. Only half of the flowers set seed, as 

 every other one is staminate. The seed is rather large, starts early, and soon 

 makes a vigorous plant. This fits it for alternate husbandry and for dry 

 countries. 



In saving the seed, care needs to be used to cut the grass just as soon as 

 the top of the panicle is ready. Not a half day should go by or seed will be 

 lost. It is cut high, bound in small bundles, shocked till well cured, when 

 it is drawn to the threshing floor on a wagon supplied with a canvass to save 

 the shelling seeds. It yields from ten to twenty bushels of seed to the acre. 



TALL MEADOW FESCUE (FESTUCA ELATIOK). 



This is a very variable perennial, two to four or even five feet in height, gen- 

 erally growing in tufts or bunches, which from year to year creep slowly 

 upward, as the new growth springs from the side of the old culms, a little 

 above that of the previous year. 



The roots are stout and woody, with a slight tendency to sucker, The 

 leaves are rather firm, flat, varying much in length and breadth, but often 

 one to two feet long. 



The nodding, spreading panicle somewhat resembles that of a slender top 

 of chess, with which every farmer is familiar. It flowers about a week or ten 

 days before timothy. 



Tall fescue has long been in high favor with the best farmers of Great 

 Britain, as it is well liked by all domestic herbivorous animals. 



Mr. Gorrie, a competent British authority, speaks of it as the most impor- 

 tant species of the fescues, highly valuable for permanent grass lands, both 

 for spring and autumn, but not the best suited for alternate husbandry, as 

 it does not attain to full productive powers till the third year from sowing. 

 It is very nutritious, making excellent hay as well as pasture. 



This grass is seldom sown in a pure state, but is frequently met with, in the 

 Northern States especially, where the soil is heavy and inclined to be moist. 

 It seeds freely and the seeds germinate quickly and make strong young 

 plants. If used alone, sow two bushels to the acre. 



