30 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



a gricul tural grasses 

 {Gramine^) 



AGROSTIS ALBA— VAR. STOLONIFERA 

 {Florin, or Creeping Bent Grass). 



This plant thrives in spongy soil which is not firm enough to 

 produce ordinary herbage, and in land which cannot be drained 

 it will get a living where other gi-asses perish. In moun- 

 tainous districts where rain falls frequently and abundantly, 

 and the atmosphere is moist, Fiorin grows freely, both on light 

 land and on peat. The plant affords very early feed in spring, 

 but its chief value lies in its continued growth late in autumn. 

 Fiorin has been pastured as late as the middle of December. 

 If not eaten down in autumn the herbage in the following 

 spring is sweet and wholesome food for young stock. One 

 disadvantage is the tendency of the plant to become ergoted ; 

 another, that where Fiorin exists in large proportion the turf 

 looks brown for some time after the hay has been cut. 



Although this grass has the peculiarity of rooting from the 

 procumbent nodes of the stem, especially in pastures much 

 trodden by cattle, it is not dependent alone upon the surface 

 soil for support. In suitable situations the roots penetrate 

 the subsoil to a considerable depth, and a series of rainy 

 summers always creates a demand for seed out of proportion 

 to its value, but when hot dry years return Fiorin is quite 

 as unreasonably condemned. 



The Agrostis family is generally deficient in nutritive 

 value, and although A. alba stolonifei^a is regarded as an 

 exception, and has been highly recommended by several 



