528 The Natural History of British Grasses. 



properties, and though it sometimes presents an apparently green 

 turf over alluvial flats, and anywhere with a muddy subsoil, 

 such grass affords, as the farmers say, " no heart " — " no proof " in 

 it. On some land of Lord do Mauley's celebrated for scouring 

 cattle, this grass was a prevailing one. It is a great pest in 

 garden-walks, increasing rapidly where allowed to seed. Salt 

 has been recommended for the prevention of its growth, which 

 it does for a time, but requires a constant renewal of the dressing 

 to quite keep it under. 



2. Poa trivialis — rough-stalked meadow grass. — This species 

 is mostly confined to low and damp situations, often forming a 

 great part of the bulk of hay in river-side meadows, but grooving 

 in the greatest abundance in irrigated pastures, especially in such 

 parts as though not stagnant are ahvays moist. Under the most 

 perfect irrigation-system, it is by no means abundant. As an 

 upland grass it is never met with in nature, and if employed in a 

 mixture for such situations it usually disappears in a few years. 

 In its favourite habitat it yields a large bulk of hay, but is usually 

 very late in its growth, and this is followed by a good bite of 

 aftermath ; but our observations confirm us in the opinion that it 

 is very watery in its composition, and its herbage is by no means 

 of the sweet quality that belongs to the best species. Sinclair, 

 however, speaks very highly of its properties, and in this he is 

 followed by Parnell ; he says, " the superior produce of this 

 Poa over many other species,* its highly nutritive qualities, 

 seasons in which it arrives at perfection, and the marked partiality 

 which horses, oxen, and sheep have for it, are merits which dis- 

 tinguish it as one of the most valuable of those grasses which 

 affect rich soil and sheltered situations." — Hort. Gram. IVohurn.y 

 p. 88. 



Now, we cannot say that we have observed any partiality of 

 cattle for this grass, and feel inclined to the belief that the fol- 

 lowing circumstances have contributed not a little to an over- 

 estimation of its qualities in this respect. If we examine its 

 progi'ess we shall find that it is nearly a month later than the 

 general mass of the meadow grasses ; so that it is no wonder that 

 cattle should choose the green leaves of this species at a time 

 when its congeners are in culm ; but this is no argument tor its 

 superior value ; on the contrary, we are constantly being told, in 

 the language of the farmer, that hay from such situations has not 

 the "proof" in it of that of the good sound meadow — a circumstance 

 which may, no doubt, in part be attributed to the quantity of 

 water it contains, as shown by Mr.Way in his ' Fourth Report on 

 the Analysis of the Ashes of Plants,' to which we have been 



* Here he does not mean of Poa, but other species of grasses. 



