138 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



loss incurred by letting this hay-crop of cock's-foot-grass stand 

 for seed, will be found considerable. This circumstance points 

 out the necessity of keeping this grass closely cropped, either with 

 cattle or the scythe, to reap the full benefit of its superior merits 

 as a pasture-grass ; which will be more particularly pointed out 

 hereafter, when speaking of the plants adapted for the alternate 

 husbandry. Oxen, horses, and sheep, eat this grass readily: 

 I have observed oxen eat the culms and flowering heads, till the 

 time the seed was perfected. For the knowledge of the supe- 

 riority of this grass over rye-grass, proved by an extensive culti- 

 vation of it, the agricultural world is indebted to Mr. Coke, 

 of Norfolk. The seed was first collected, in any considerable bulk, 

 by Rogers Parker, Esq. and by Messrs. Gibbs, seedsmen. 



The roots of cock's-foot are fibrous, and penetrate to a consider- 

 able depth in the ground, particularly where the subsoil is porous 

 and not stagnant ; under such circumstances the plant flourishes, 

 is productive in an extraordinary degree, and remains perma- 

 nent. But where the surface soil is thin, incumbent on tenacious 

 clay, or where the subsoil is retentive of superfluous moisture, 

 cock's-foot succeeds imperfectly ; for although at first an ample 

 supply of plants may be obtained by the ordinary process of sowing 

 the seed, yet these are found not to keep possession of such soils. 

 The slender hold the fibrous roots of this grass have in such soils, 

 renders the plant liable to be drawn out of the soil by the mouths 

 of the cattle ; and the massy production of the foliage of the full- 

 grown plant affording such an ample bite, makes this particular 

 danger greater with respect to cock's-foot, than to other species of 

 the superior grasses having a different habit of growth ; from the 

 same cause, the slender hold the plants have of such soils, the 

 plants suflTer by the treading of the feet of the cattle. By these 

 means the plants of cock's-foot, when growing singly by themselves, 

 or when uncombined with other superior grasses, are thinned, and 

 the field soon exhibits a deficient unequal sward : to these unfa- 

 vourable circumstances should a course of hot dry weather occur, 

 the evil is increased, and the cock's-foot gradually disappears alto- 

 gether. Under the circumstances of soil now described, it will be 

 found a great corrector of these evils, if not a complete remedy, to 

 combine the seeds of some of the earlier and later grasses (which 

 will be mentioned hereafter) with the cock's-foot at the time of 

 sowing. The same, however, may be said of every one of the 

 superior pasture grasses whose habits are not solitary, but which 



