86 llORTUS f;KAMINF.US WOJU' 15 N K N SI S. 



rally Ihroe-flowercd ; husks acute, connected by a villus j 



sheath-scale very short, obtuse. 

 Ohs. — This grass is allied to the j^'^a jfratensis, but may 



be distinguished therefrom by its delicate sky-blue or 



glaucous colour. The root is powerfully creeping- 



Native of Britain*. 

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



clayey loam enriched with bog earth is 7,486 lbs. per 



acre. 

 The produce of latter-math is 4,084 lbs. per acre. 

 This grass is common in meadows where the soil is peaty ; 

 it generally inhabits the drier parts. It is eaten by horses, 

 oxen, and sheep, indifferently with other grasses ; hares, 

 however, prefer the poa pratensis to this : for five successive 

 years they ciopped a patch of thepoa pratensis, and left un- 

 touched a similar space of this grass that grew close by it. 

 The pro])ortion of saccharine matter was greater, in the 

 nutritive matter of the poa pratensis, compared to that of the 

 other constituents, mucilage and bitter extractive, than in 

 the nutritive matter of this species of poa, which contained 

 more bitter extractive. This seems to confirm, with respect 

 to the liking of the hare, what Sir Humphry Davy has 

 proved with respect to the grasses most liked by cattle, 

 " that they have either a saline or subacid taste." 



On a rich warm springy gravel, shaded with shrubs, 

 Mr. Taunton found this orass risino- to the heio-ht of three 

 feet in the culm, and having an exceedingly handsome ap- 

 pearance, from fine luxuriant fohage ; but on a stiff clay 

 he never found it exceed ten inches in height. 



What was before said of the demerits of thejjort pratensis 

 likewise applies to this grass; and, from the above facts, 

 it is evidently one of the inferior pasture grasses, and 

 cannot be recommended for cultivation with any prospect 

 of advantage, unless in particularly dry soils, where supe- 



* In the following digest of the work, all the authorities and re- 

 ferences to other works are left out, as well as all botanical criticism, 

 Iractions of quantities, in short, all reiUmdaut matter of which no use 

 could now be made. — Ed. 



