104 



Notwithstanding the Poa pratensis and Avena fiavesans^ 

 more especially the former, possess some very good qualities ; 

 1 decline recommending either, as they are both deficient in 

 a property of much importance to the farmer, who means, 

 when he lays down his giound, not to break it up for some 

 years. 



Neither of these grasses hold long possession of the ground ; 

 %^ith all the powerful aid I gave them, they were scarcely 

 able to retain their hold of it, and without my interference, 

 by frequently weeding out their competitors, it was plain that 

 they would soon have disappeared. 



IX. Pleum pratense. 



Timothy grass is sometimes recommended for producing a 

 strong and valuable crop of hay, as I have repeatedly found 

 myself when 1 cut it early in its inflorescence, this is abso- 

 lutely necessary from its great coarseness. 



Yet I think a crop of this griass by no ttwiaos compensates 

 for its lateness and total want of after-grass, its powers of 

 re-production being inferior to those of any other grass, or 

 rather none at all, for, after mowing, it makes no more 

 attempt lo rise again than a crop of corn, indeed it seems 

 to resemble the grain more than the grass tribe. 



Timothy grass ils very common in America, and siaid 

 with us to be a foreign grass, yet I have seen it in meadows 

 where it could not have been soAVn ; it obviously is not a 



grass 



