HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 287 



compound ; flowers upright, cylindrical. Sm. Engl. Fl. i. 

 p. 113. 

 Obs. — Root fibrous, tough, often twisted. Culm from six 

 inches to two feet high, according to the depth of soil it 

 grows in; bulbous at the base, with one joint. Leaves linear, 

 acuminated, channelled. Spikelets 3, seldom 4-flowered, of 

 a green and purple, or of a green, violet, and purple colour, 

 varying. A pedicle knobbed at the end rises from betwixt 

 the florets. Anthers of a beautiful purplish-blue colour, 

 pistil purple. E. Bot. 750 ; Flo. Ger. 269 ; Host. t. 8 ; Flo. 

 Dan. t. 239 ; Wither. Arr. 

 German, B/aues-Perlgras. 

 Native of Britain. Perennial. 



Experiments. — At the time of flowering, the produce from a 

 light sandy soil is — 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. lbs. 



Grass, 11 oz. The produce per acre - - 7486 14 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - 30 7 ^ony n a 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 66 3 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 4679 4 12 

 64 dr. of grass aiford of nutritive matter 12 7 i??; n Q 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 4 0| 3 



At the time the seed is ripe, the produce is — 

 Grass, 10 oz. The produce per acre - - 6806 4 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - 40 ^ 940'^ 9 n 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 80 3 

 64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 12^ 1 f;o « k 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 3 3 3 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 3403 2 

 The weight of nutritive matter which is lost by leaving 



the crop till the seed be ripe, is - - 15 8 4 



For the purposes of pasture or hay, the above details shew this 

 grass to be comparatively of no value. It is said that goats, horses, 

 and sheep eat it : I have laid it before cows and sheep, but they 

 turned from it : I have observed hares to crop the foliage in the 

 spring. The Rev. G. Swayne, in Withering's Arrangements, in- 

 forms us, that in the turf-moors below Glastonbury, Somerset- 

 shire, it grows in great abundance. The country people make of 

 the straws a neat kind of besoms, which they sell to the neigh- 



