524 The Natural History of British Grasses. 



Triticnm repots — creeping wheat or couch grass ; f/lumcs 

 ribbed ; locustcB of from four to eight florets ; the glumels mostly 

 awned, leaves broad and flat ; rhizome much creeping. — P. 



T. Juncezwi. — Rushy sea wheat-grass ; glumes obtuse, Avitli 

 many ribs ; locustce of from four to five florets, without awns ; 

 leaves involute (folded) ; rhizome creeping. — P. 



The first of these constitutes the detested couch of the farmer, 

 and is a grass more catholic in its tastes and habits than almost 

 any other ; so much so indeed, that hedge-rows, road-sides, the 

 pasture-field, and waste places, no less than arable lands, all upon 

 €very kind of soil, will be occupied by it to greater or less extent ; 

 and as lands in which it is allowed to increase are considered par 

 excellence as " foul," the removal of couch is a matter in which all 

 farmers are occupied and interested. Considering, therefore, the 

 perpetual warfare that is waging against this grass, it is surprising 

 how much of it still remains, even in some well-cultivated districts. 

 jVIucli of this may be accounted for in the unploughed spaces 

 under hedges or stone walls, in which it seeds and thus 

 forms a nursery for the fields ; and besides, the rhizomes are cut 

 off by the plough and become scattered by the operation of the 

 harrow, and thus a centre is formed in the field, from which it 

 spreads in like manner, so that a quantity of couch has alwaj's to 

 be got rid of. 



Much of the evils arising from this grass may be prevented by 

 the timely use of the fork, which should always be brought into 

 requisition upon every couch centre that may be detected, and 

 that before ploughing for anv and every crop, as this instrviment 

 is capable of following the plant in its depth as well as breadth, 

 while the plough only cuts it off for the depth limited b}^ its ope- 

 rations. This method, it is true, adds a little to the first expense 

 of tillage, but it saves much after trouble, and is far cheaper in 

 the end. 



The same circumstance which renders the plant just described 

 so great a pest to the farmer, namely, its creeping habit of growth, 

 should impel us to preserve the T.junceum, as it is confined to 

 sandy sea-shores, which its long, tough, and flexile rhizome 

 assists in so matting together as to prevent the encroachment of 

 the sea-water on the coast. 



BkaCIIYPODIUM — locustce cylindrical, on short pedicles alter- 

 nate on the central axis ; glumes unequal, transverse. 



B. pinnatum — heath false brome-grass — locustre of from eight 

 to twelve smooth florets ; awns half the length of the florets ; spike 

 and leaves upright. — P. 



B. sylvaticum — slender false brome-grass — locustce of from eight 



