84 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 
be light and of poor quality. It is safe to let it ripen thoroughly 
before cutting as the grass holds the seed well. The same methods 
of harvesting and curing may be used as for cereals. 
Quality of seed: The seeds are light brown with a character- 
istic purple tint, almost half an inch long, flat and light. The glume 
has sometimes a short awn at the top, but as a rule it is awnless 
and blunt. The seed usually contains a good deal of chaff and broken 
straw. Good seed weighs fourteen pounds per bushel. 
FIELD BROME GRASS (Bromus arvensis L.) 
Seed, Plate 27, Fig. 21. 
Botanical description: Field Brome Grass is annual, or some- 
times biennial, with stems one to three feet high, generally standing 
many together, and with rather broad, soft leaves. The whole 
plant has a characteristic greyish green colour. It is easily distin- 
guished from other Brome grasses by the soft hairs covering its 
lower parts. The panicle is large, spreading even after flowering, 
and of a characteristic purple tinge. The outer glumes of the flower 
are provided with long awns; otherwise the spikelets are similar to 
those of Awnless Brome Grass. 
Geographical distribution: Field Brome Grass is a native of 
Europe, Siberia and Asia Minor. It has been sparingly introduced 
into America. 
, 
Habitat: It is found in waste places, along roads and paths, 
and in fields where it sometimes grows like a weed. 
Agricultural value: Attempts have been made to cultivate 
this grass. On account of its brief duration, it can be used only 
in short rotations. It makes rapid growth and gives an abundant 
yield; for this reason it may be used as a catch crop. Its value for 
Canada has not been sufficiently tested. 
We make (by Art) in the same Orchards and Gardens, Trees and Flowers to come earlier or later 
than their seasons, and to come up and bear more speedily than by their natural course they do. We 
make them also (by Art) much greater, their mature, and their Fruit greater and sweeter, and of 
differing taste, smell, colour and figure from their mature; and many of them we so order, that they 
become of Medicinal use. We have also means to make divers * * new Plants differing from 
the Vulgar, and make one Tree or Plant turn into another.—Bacon, New Allantis, 1676. 
