70 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 
Cultural conditions: It reaches perfection in wet meadows 
where the soil is rich in organic matter, and it makes good growth 
on clays or clay loams which are flooded from time to time. Stagnant 
water will not hurt it and it is therefore preferable to Rough-stalked 
Meadow Grass in marshy and swampy localities, where the latter is 
apt to rot at the base of the stems. 
Habits of growth: It is rather easy to start the plants from 
seed but it takes them two or three years to reach full development. 
If the soil and other conditions are favourable, it will in time crowd 
out other grasses and form a dense and persisting sod. It starts 
growth later than does Kentucky Blue Grass and generally blooms 
some weeks later. It is peculiar in remaining green and fairly 
succulent a long time after flowering. 
Agricultural value: Fowl Meadow Grass is generally grown 
for hay, and in low-lying localities, with abundant water, the bulk 
produced is very great. It gives a rich fodder, relished by all kinds 
of stock. As it gives a good second growth, it is evident that it is 
of considerable value as a forage plant. It is usually sown with 
other grasses such as Red Top and Timothy. 
Seed: Fowl Meadow Grass is grown for seed to only a limited 
extent, the most important cultures being established in Bohemia, 
Austria. 
Quality of seed: The seeds, which have a tuft of cobweb-like 
hairs attached to their base before being cleaned, are yellowish- 
brown, often with a reddish or purplish tinge. They differ from 
Kentucky Blue and Rough-stalked Meadow Grass seeds principally 
in the glumes, which are rather blunt and have indistinct nerves. 
WATER, MEADOW GRASS (Glyceria aquatica (L.) Wahlb.) 
Seed, Plate 26, Fig. 17. 
Botanical description: Water Meadow Grass is perennial, 
with a very long and thick creeping rootstock. The stems, which 
generally root at the base, are stout and up to nine feet high. They 
are leafy to above the middle; the leaves are long and broad. The 
whole plant has a peculiar bright green or yellowish-green colour. 
Water Meadow Grass may also be readily recognized by the two 
yellow or yellowish-brown spots at the upper end of the sheaths. 
The flowers are in a spreading panicle, which is sometimes a foot and a 
