64 GRAMINEAL 
the Hebrides it is manufactured into mats for pack-saddles, and into vessels 
for holding grain or meal. It is a source of great regret that in this country 
there are many hundred thousands of acres of sea-sand, having all the 
advantages of climate and of the excellent manure afforded by the refuse of 
ocean, rendered useless by their want of solidity of soil, and yet too firm for 
the growth of- mat-grass. Various means have been suggested for rendering 
these sands useful to the agriculturist, and Dr. Paterson of Glasgow stated 
to the British Association in 1855, that he had seen a small sheltered corner, 
of which the soil was no better or other than that of a common sand-hill, 
which had been reclaimed from waste by the owner, and was then green 
with the waving produce of clover. In future days, therefore, means may 
be found of converting these tracts of sand into useful fields. 
2. Baltic Sea-reed (A. baltica).—Panicle elongated, loose and irregular; 
flowering glume lance-shaped, the pencil of hairs at its base half as long. 
This species is very similar to the last in its general habit, but its panicles 
are less cylindrical and less compacted, and the nerves on the flowering 
elumes are less strongly marked. It flowers in August and September, and 
occurs only on Ross Links and Holly Isle, Northumberland. 
7. (12) Cat’s-raIL Grass (Phléum). 
1. Common Cat’s-tail (P. praténse).—Panicle cylindrical; empty 
glumes, as if cut off at the end, tipped with a spine, and fringed on the 
keel, longer than the awn. Perennial. This is one of the commonest of our 
meadow plants, growing well on dry poor soils, and retaining its verdure 
longer than most grasses. It becomes troublesome on dry gravelly soils, by 
means of its creeping stems (var. stolonifera), which in some situations become 
tuberous (var. nodosum). ‘This Cat’s-tail is in this country used chiefly for 
hay, being a hard coarse grass, little relished by cows, horses, or sheep, but 
affording, if made into hay just when ripening its seeds, a fair supply of 
nutriment. It is in England sown with other grasses, but Professor Buck- 
man says it is admirably adapted for a self-crop, and is one of the most com- 
monly used grasses for this purpose in America, its herbage being in that land 
much coarser than in ours, and its stems often four feet high, with flower- 
spikes four inches long. “In the States of New York and Pennsylvania,” 
says this writer, “‘I saw hundreds of acres of the best cleared land occupied 
solely with this grass, of which, indeed, the great bulk of the grass hay of 
the country is made. Here so strong does it grow as at a slight distance to 
be capable of being mistaken for a grain crop.” The grass grows slowly 
after cutting, and is late in ripening its seeds, hence its aftermath is not 
abundant, but its power of resisting drought induces this botanist to infer 
that it would be a good grass on dry upland or sandy soils. Hares are very 
fond of its herbage. 
This Cat’s-tail is from a foot to a foot and a half high, its leaves rather 
broad, rough, and furnished with long sheaths, and its panicle, which appears 
in June, is from two to four inches long, varied with green and white. It 
owes its common name of Timothy-grass to Mr. Timothy Hanson, who culti- 
vated it extensively in the United States. 
2. Alpine Cat’s-tail (P. alpinwm).— Panicle egg-shaped, somewhat 
