AGRICULTURAL GRASSES 39 



Tall Oat Grass is almost indifferent to circumstances, and 

 may be gi-own pretty nearly everywhere. It is seen to least 

 advantage on poor thin land ; but on good light and medium 

 soils, as well as in all forms of clay, if not too damp, it grows 

 from two to fom* feet in height. In warm forcing situations 

 it will produce two hea^^ crops of hay in one season, and 

 will continue to throw a blade until autumn frosts appear. 



The plant starts into growth very early in spring, and 

 after the crop has been mown there is one peculiarity which 

 must be borne in mind, or much waste may result. When cut 

 this grass absorbs moisture in the same manner as TrifoVmm 

 incarnatum, and therefore hay containing it must be got into 

 rick as rapidly as possible. As the stems are not succulent, 

 Avena elatior can quickly be made into hay, which keeps 

 particularly weU. 



For permanent pastures this grass cannot always be 

 regarded as suitable, on account of its uncertain duration on 

 some soils, and there is also the objection that the herbage 

 is extremely coarse. 



The long, smooth, narrow, deep green leaves, the youngest 

 of which are tightly twisted or rolled throughout their length, 

 together wdth the truncate hairy ligule and keeled sheath, 

 enable a student to determine this species when the flowering 

 panicle is absent. 



The rapid growth of Avena elatior makes the plant a gross 

 feeder, and it will absorb any reasonable quantity of manure, 

 especially of the nitrogenous class. 



When sown in autumn a much larger produce is obtained 

 in the following year than from a spring sowing. 



A weed variety of this grass, growing in arable land, is 

 characterised by the formation of a bulb-hke growth in the 

 ground, just above the root, and is known by the name of 

 Onion Couch. Tall Oat Grass has no resemblance to Avena 

 fatua, the Wild Oat Grass or Havers, which is a weed of corn- 

 fields, and is much like the cultivated oat in appearance. 



