202 REPORT—1857. 
many of the grasses only maintain a perfectly perennial habit by being crop- 
ped off before they have seeded. This consummation having been attained, 
many species, such as the Loliwms, Hordeums, Dactylis, and Alopecurus, die 
out the same,_or at best the second year afterwards ; and indeed in cultiva- 
tion, even when cut before it is ripe, the old plants gradually die out. 
Grasses indeed differ so much in the species that prevail and the well or 
ill doing of these according to circumstances, that the practical observer of 
them, either in a wild or cultivated shape, or, better, both, may become 
acquainted not only with the broad features connected with the conditions 
of soil, but all their inflections, such as its value, the cultivation it has 
experienced or that should be adopted, mechanical texture, want of draining, 
and the like. 
As regards particular Botanical facts that have received illustration from 
my experiments, I would shortly comment upon the following genera :— 
Alopecurus, Dactylis, Agrostis, Poa, Festuca and Bromus*. Of the first two 
genera, I received packets of seed from the seedsman with the following 
names :— 
Alopecurus pratensis. Dactylis glomerata. 
es nigricans. » gigantea. 
The A. nigricans I take to be but a variety of A. pratensis; and indeed, 
after three years of growth, it may almost be pronounced as identical. Both 
do well; and I can see no reason for preferring the one to the other, so alike 
are they in growth and habit. 
As regards the two names of Dactylis, for they are nothing more, they are 
here inserted to note with reprehension a practice too often adopted by seeds- 
men, of giving a new name from some accidental enlargement of form per- 
haps arising from suitable soil—or other unimportant distinctions ; and thus 
disappointment results to the cultivator, while works are burdened with 
synonyms. 
Agrostis.— The last year’s plots of this were as under :— 
Plot A. Agrostis vulgaris. Plot B. Agrostis stolonifera. 
These were sown in 1855, and at the last meeting they presented the follow- 
ing appearances :— 
A. “Presents the usual delicate A, vulgaris of the grass meadows with 
a few plants of A. stolonifera intermixed.” 
B. “The general plant is A. vulgaris having a few A. stolonifera inter- 
mixed; and these latter present more of the A. alba form than of the con- 
gested inflorescence and true stolon growth of the A. stolonifera.” 
This seems to favour the view that the three forms are all referable to a 
single speciest, as when cultivated in a like position their broader features 
of distinction are lost, and the seed of one, though for the most part coming 
true, will still send up exceptional examples of each of the others; but the 
diversity of conditions under which the three forms occur in nature seems 
sufficient to account for the different aspect which they assume, such as— 
A, vulgaris, common to upland meadows. 
A. alba, in ditches and damp places. 
A, stolonifera, in stony brashes, mostly an accompaniment of agrarian con- 
ditions. 
* Avena and Aigilops to be noticed in the Cereal list. 
7 This is more strongly confirmed in the present year, 1857, as now 
Plot A is attaiming the size and appearance of J, alba. 
Plot B is nearly all 4. alba. These plots are on a thin clay bed. 
