HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 405 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. lbs. 



Grass, 28 oz. The produce per acre - - 19057 8 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - 28 7 r«70 9 i) 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 156 3^5 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 12387 6 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 2 ^ nqn q 19 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 14 5 



It delights more in calcareous or clayey soils, than in those 

 that are of a siliceous sandy nature. It perfects an abundance of 

 seed, which, when sown, produces plants that soon arrive at per- 

 fection. So far, therefore, it possesses the requisite properties of 

 a grass adapted for the Alternate Husbandry ; but it is late in the 

 produce of foliage in the spring, and that herbage is not distin- 

 guished by any superior nutritive powers, as the above results of 

 experiments manifest. It is perfectly hardy. Being a native of 

 a warmer climate, its defects may possibly be greatly lessened by 

 being naturalized, and by frequently raising it from seed suc- 

 cessively ripened in this country. At present it does not offer 

 any strong reasons to recommend it further to the notice of the 

 Agriculturist. 



It flowers in the third week of August, and the seed is ripe 

 towards the end of September. 



From the facts brought forward in this and the preceding 

 series, it appears manifest that there are but a smaller number of 

 the natural grasses peculiarly fitted for the Alternate Husbandry. 



The merits of a grass, or other species of plants for alternation, 

 as green crops* with grain, were before mentioned. 



* The following plants having been submitted to experiment, in so far as regards 

 the quantity of nutritive matter they afford, it is hoped, the accompanying short 

 notices respecting them may not be altogether uninteresting, but of some use to 

 the Agriculturist. 



1. Turnips (Brassica rapa.) By whom, and at what period, turnips were first 

 used in England as the food of cattle, does not appear ; but from various accounts, 

 their culture and uses were known in the Low Countries, as far back as there are 

 any records. The ancients appear to have been well acquainted with the value of 

 this root. Columella, speaking of the several kinds of vegetables adapted for the 

 farm, recommends the cultivating of rapa in plenty, because, says he, those roots 

 that are not wanted for the table, will be eaten by the cattle. Worlidge, in his 

 Mystery of Husbandry, &c. printed in 1681, (my copy I believe to be a second 

 edition, for Worlidge wrote in 1668,) says, that " although turnips be usually 



