18 



soils, retentive of moisture, do not suit it so well. Upon this class of soils 

 the roots acquire such a feeble hold that they are liaVjle to be thrown out by- 

 winter freezes. In England, however, Mr. Wheeler, a writer on grasses, 

 recommends it among those grasses suited "for a poor stiff soil or a dry 

 subsoil." 



Mr. Edmund Murphy, of Ireland, states that it is most advanta- 

 geously used in the sandy soils of Norfolk. 



It will grow well upon a soil naturally sterile, provided it is top- 

 dressed with stable manure. Upon freshly cleared lands where there is 

 a considerable amount of virgin mold it grows with a surprising luxu- 

 riance, getting a good start early in the spring and growing successive 

 crops until fall. One of its chief merits lies in the earliness and rapidity 

 of its growth, furnishing a grateful bite to horses, sheep and cattle long 

 before any other grass. It retains its verdurous appearance during the 

 hot days of August when grown upon a rich deep loam. 



As a hay grass it does not rank high in the estimation of Tennessee 

 farmers. Upon good soils it attains a usual height of three feet but some- 

 times reaches four and even five feet. The stalks when grown on rich 

 soils are coarse and woody, unless the grass is very thick. As a hay, un- 

 less cut very early, it is not relished by stock to the same extent as clover, 

 timothy or herd's grass hay. Nevertheless it makes, upon good soils, a 

 large quantity of medium quality. If cut before the leaves begin to be em- 

 browned or to dry up and before the seed begins to form it is greatly 

 relished by stock, though it is deficient in nutritive matter. 



The Woburn experiments developed some interesting facts pertain- 

 ing tO this grass. Grown upon a rich, sandy loam, and cut the middle of 

 April the green grass weighed 10,209 pounds per acre, in which there 

 were 1,190 pounds of nutritious matter. Cut, when in full bloom, the 

 green produce weighed 27,905^ pounds. It lost in dessication 

 16,0-15 pounds, or a little more than half, and furnished 1,089 pounds of 

 nutritious matter. After the seeds were fully ripe, the green produce 

 weighed less by 1,361 pounds per acre, but there were 1,415 more pounds 

 of dry i'ay, with an excess of nutritive extract of 363 pounds. The after- 

 math, however, was not so good, and in the loss of this the advantage of 

 an increased yield of hay was counterbalanced. 



Its best record as reported by Sinclair was 27,905 pounds of green 

 grass; 11, 860^/2 pounds of hay and 11,910 of green aftermath per acre. 

 The following account of the extraordinary productiveness of this grass 

 is given by Mr. Falla, nurseryman and seedsman, of Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture: 



On the 30th of April he weighed the produce of a square yard, and 

 found it to be 16 pounds or 34^ tons per acre; the second crop of this 

 yard was cut again on the 10th of June, and weighed 8 pounds. The 

 third crop was cut on the 10th of September and weighed 10 pounds — in 

 all equal to 73 tons as the year's produce. He remarks that it was, in 

 every case, weighed on a dry day. 



HOW AND WHEN TO SOW— The land if inclined to be tenacious 

 or stifT in its character should be well broken in the fall, rebroken the 

 following March or April and thoroughly harrowed just before sowing 



