348 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



were neglected by the cattle ; the rest of the pasture was eaten 

 closely. Though the temporary acceptance or rejection of a par- 

 ticular sort of food by cattle will be found a fallacious criterion 

 of its merit or comparative value, nevertheless, in instances like 

 the present, where the plant possesses no superior quality other- 

 wise to recommend it, as nutritive properties, early growth, and 

 productive powers, the dislike of cattle to partake of it adds 

 greatly to the demerits of the plant. 



Flowers in the second and third weeks of July, and ripens the 

 seed about the end of August. 



JGROSTIS palustris. Marsh Bent. 



Specific character : Panicle loose when in flower, spike-like 

 when the seed is perfected ; calyx-valves equal, the outer 

 only serrulated, larger valve of the corolla with a minute 

 straight awn fixed above its middle, and reaching to its 

 point, obsolete. 



Ohs. — It varies much in size, according to the soil on which it 

 grows. In marshes the panicle is very large, exceeding that 

 of the florin, and every other part of the plant in proportion. 

 In poor clayey soils its growth is much smaller, being there 

 inferior to the Agrostis stolonifera, var. angustifolia. The 

 panicle is spear-shaped, but tapers to a point; after the time 

 of flowering it contracts very much, and resembles a spike. 

 The colour of the panicle is lighter than in any other variety 

 of stoloniferous, or creeping-stemmed bent-grass. This is 

 considered only a variety of the Agrostis stolonifera ; its 

 characters, however, remain permanent after the plants are 

 raised from seed, and its properties and structure differ more 

 from the other varieties of the A. stolonifera before mentioned 

 than what these do from each other. I have for these rea- 

 sons retained the name palustris. Hort. Gram. Fol. 237. 



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



bog soil is — 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. lbs. 



Grass, 15 oz. The produce per acre - - 10209 6 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - 36 > At^'^A q a 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 108 5 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 5615 2 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 2 3^ .^^ ,^ ^ 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 10 1|5 



