228 HORTUS GRAMTNEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



they agree in the general habit of Dr. Richardson's variety, and 

 indeed in every respect except in the characters before described, 

 their inferiority in every agricultural merit is so great, as to justify 

 the opprobrious epithets that have been bestowed upon them by 

 those who, from the above causes, have differed from Dr. Richard- 

 son's statements of the merits of the first variety, or florin, and 

 prevented that justice being done to the discovery which it may 

 have deserved. 



The above details will assist the Fgrmer in deciding on the com- 

 parative merits of this grass, as a constituent of a mixture of 

 grasses for permanent pasture; from which it will doubtless appear 

 worthy of attention, but its value not so great as has been supposed, 

 if its habits or manner of growth be impartially taken into the 

 account, when compared with the produce and nutritive powers of 

 other grasses. 



This grass, when cultivated by itself, cannot be profitably 

 depastured, on account, principally, of its peculiar manner of 

 growth, which has been compared to that of strawberries. It 

 sends out runners or stolones, which strike root at the joints ; the 

 feet of cattle mixing part of the soil with these, render the most 

 valuable part of the plant unfit for food. In its combined state in 

 ancient pastures this objection is lost, as the root-leaves and con- 

 solidated turf of the various grasses prevent completely such 

 an eiFect from the feet of the cattle, which will be evident on 

 a few moments' examination of a close-eaten turf of such pastures 

 as now described. In this state it is much less productive than 

 when cultivated singly, as the fibrous roots of the stolones derive 

 their only nourishment from the moisture secreted among the root- 

 leaves of the other grasses. 



The chief advantage of this grass in permanent pasture is its late 

 growth. It remains in a degree inactive till other grasses have 

 attained to perfection, and when their productive powers become 

 exhausted, those of fiorin and its varieties begin ; and it will 

 be found, on inspection, that the latest mouthful of herbage, and 

 sometimes the earliest in those pastures, is principally afforded by 

 this grass. 



There has been much prejudice existing against the different 

 species of Agrostis in general; but let the proprietor of a rich 

 ancient pasture divest a part of it of this grass entirely, and the 

 value of the plant will be demonstrated in the comparative loss of 

 late and early herbage. In these pastures, late in the autumn, I 

 have observed the stolones extend to a considerable length, and 



