60 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 
an ordinary grain binder and the sheaves, which must be rather 
small, should be set three to five together in small shocks. They 
should be left to cure from two to six weeks, depending on the 
weather, and then threshed without stacking. 
Quality of seed: Good seed is bright straw-coloured and con- 
tains only a small amount of hulled seed and whole spikelets, or 
groups of seed not loosened from each other in threshing. It keeps 
its vitality fairly well for two years. Seed older than that should 
not be used as the germs are considerably weakened. 
CRESTED DOG’S TAIL (Cynosurus cristatus L.) 
Seed, Plate 26, Fig. 14. 
Other English name: Dog’s Tail Grass. 
Botanical description: Crested Dog’s Tail is perennial with 
a short rootstock and grows in loose tufts, consisting chiefly of leafy 
shoots. The stems are very slender, from one to two feet high, and 
comparatively few in number. The leaves are narrow, those of the 
stems shorter than those of the basal shoots. They are folded in 
the bud and are generally slightly concave when fully developed. 
The flowers are arranged in a panicle of peculiar shape and con- 
struction. The branches are very short and turned towards the same 
side, thus giving the panicle the appearance of a one-sided spike. 
Each branch carries two spikelets which are extremely unlike. One 
is composed of three or four normal flowers which have stamens and 
pistils and consequently are fertile. The other consists of a number 
of sharp-pointed scales, arranged in two rows, like the teeth of a two- 
sided comb. This spikelet has neither stamens nor pistils and is 
consequently sterile. When the panicle is young the fertile spikelets 
are hidden by the sterile ones and the panicle has a crested appear- . 
ance. This look and the shape of the panicle have given the plant 
its name. 
Geographical distribution: Crested Dog’s Tail is indigenous 
to almost all parts of Europe and to southwestern Asia. It has 
been introduced into North America but is found only occasionally 
in Canada. 
Habitat: It grows naturally in meadows, on hills and mountain 
slopes, along seashores and roadsides, etc. 
