The Natural History of British Grasses. 515 



seldom found in the open meadow, but is mostly an accompani- 

 ment of strong heavy land which has been badly tilled and is 

 much out of condition ; its presence therefore denotes a want of 

 drainage and liberal manuring, which treatment, as we have fre- 

 cjuently witnessed, will eradicate it even in a single season. 



A. geniculatus is here noted as a denizen of wet places, where, 

 if cattle can get at it, they invariably keep it well cropped down. 

 In some situations it appears in a stunted condition, apparently 

 on dry soil, but this is only after drought, as, if it be not sur- 

 rounded by water for a great part of the year, it soon dies out ; 

 under such circumstances, therefore, it is an indicator of some 

 value. 



Phleum — spike compact, glumes distinct, glumel of two equal 

 awnless valves. 



P. pratcnse — timothy or catstail grass — -glumes equal, much 

 truncated, with long produced points, each valve ciliated with a 

 row of stiff hairs on the back. — P. 



This grass, under the name of catstail, is a common native, 

 found everywhere in tolerably good pastures. It has been intro- 

 duced among most others of our British pasture grasses to the 

 American continent, where it appears to have attracted the atten- 

 tion of one Mr. Timothy Hanson, who probably first brought it 

 out as a self-grass, in which cultivated form it has become asso- 

 ciated with his Christian name ; and hence the idea that some en- 

 tertain that we got the species from America is erroneous, as it 

 is not indigenous to that country, though it is quite true that we 

 import from the States and Canada most of our seed under its 

 name of timothy-grass. 



As a meadow-grass, it is to be recommended for the mass of 

 its nutritive culms, which are anything but coarse with us, and 

 especially in our hay season, as it is a late species ; it however 

 yields comparatively little aftermath. 



As a self-grass, its cultivation lias never been carried out to 

 any extent in Britain. In tlie United States, however, and 

 Canada, hundreds of acres may be seen occupied with the culti- 

 vated form — timothy-grass ; and on the alluvial flats of the 

 Ohio, and the broad alluvial lands left by the contraction of the 

 American lakes, this grass yields enormous crops, with spikes of 

 flowers sometimes as much as six inches in length. 



It is a grass easy of cultivation, and particularly well adapted 

 for growth on river Hats or estuarine warp-land, on which it 

 will yiehl much larger crops than any other grass, and, though 

 somewhat harsh and coarse in such places, will yet be found to 

 contain highly nutritive qualities, and is peculiarly adapted for 

 admixture in chaff. 



