70 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 



Cultural conditions: It reaches perfection in wet meadows 

 where the soil is ricli 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 diff^er 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 



