76 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 



FINE-LEAVED SHEEP'S FESCUE (Festuca ovina L., var. 



tenuifolia Sibth.) 



This variety, as a rule, is of lower stature than ordinarj- Sheep's 

 Fescue. The leaves are extremely fine and hairlike. It is distin- 

 guished from Sheep's Fescue by its awnless flowers. 



It has no special agricultural value but could be used in mi.xtures 

 for lawns. 



HARD FESCUE (Festuca ovina L. var. duriuscula (L.) Koch.) 



Other Latin name: Festuca duriuscula L. 



Hard Fescue is only a vigorous variety of Sheep's Fescue, with 

 which it agrees in all essential points. It is a strongly tufted peren- 

 nial with all its leaves rolled up like Sheep's Fescue, but the leaves 

 of the basal shoots are longer, thicker and firmer in texture — hence 

 the name Hard Fescue. The panicles and spikelets are a little 

 larger, but no fixed marks can be given to distinguish this plant 

 from ordinary Sheep's Fescue. It has about the same geographical 

 distribution and value. It is adapted to sandy soil but should not 

 be grown unless the land is too poor for better grasses. The basal 

 leaves being rather long, it may be used to a limited extent on poor 

 land as a bottom grass for hay mixtures. 



The seed of Hard Fescue is very like that of Sheep's Fescue 

 but often has a bluish tint. 



For they counte this the moste juste cause of wane, when anye people holdethe a piece of grounde 

 voyde and vacaunt to no good nor profitable use. kepyng other from the use and possession of it. the 

 whiche notwithstandyng by the lawe of nature ought thereof to be nouryshed and relieved. — Thomas 

 More, Utopia, 1515. 



The greens grass. 

 So small, so thick, so short, so fresh of hue. 

 That most like to green wool, I wot, it was. 



— Chaucer, The FlCiixr and the Leaf, 15G0. 



It is less creditable for a man to remain in the house than to attend to things out of doors. The 

 pursuit of agriculture is at once a means of enjoyment and of increasing resources; and it is also an 

 exercise for the body, such as to strengthen it for discharging the duties that become a man of honour- 

 able birth. For though it offers blessings in the greatest plenty, it does not permit us to take them in 

 idleness, but requires us to accustom ourselves to endure the colds of winter and the heats of summer; 

 to those whom it exercises in manual labor it gives an increase of strength, and in such as only oversee 

 the cultivation of it, it produces a manly vigor by requiring them to rise early in the morning and 

 forcing them to move about with activity. — Xenophon, The Economist, 434-355. B.G 



