HORl us GRA-MINEUS W'OB U RN EN SIS. 87 



rior grasses do not thrive. Flowers in the beginning of 

 June, and ripens the seed in the beginning of July. 



POA tnvialis. Rough-stalked AJeadow-grass. 



Sjyecific character: panicle rather spreading; spikelets 

 three-fiowered ; florets lanceolate, five-ribbed, con- 

 nected by a web ; stipula oblong ; stem and leaves 

 roughish ; root fibrous. 



Obs. The great roughness of the culms and leaves mani- 

 fested when drawn between the fingers, the sharp- 

 pointed sheath-scale, and the fibrous root, so conspi- 

 cuous in this species, sufficiently distinguish it from 

 thepoa pratensis. Native of Britain ; root perennial. 



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

 a brown loam with manure is 7,48G lbs. per acre. 



The produce of the latter-math is 4,764 lbs. per acre. 



'i he proportional value in which the grasses of the latter- 

 math exceeds that of the flowering crop, is as 3 to 2, and 

 that of the seed crop as 12 to 11. 



Here then is a satisfactory proof of the superior value of 

 the crop at the time the seed is ripe, and of the consequent 

 loss sustained by taking it when in flower ; because, in this 

 instance, the vveight of each crop is nearly the same, and 

 the latter-math, which would be produced in the time that is 

 taken up in perfecting the seed, is infinitely less than that 

 of many other species of grass, where the loss of latter-math^ 

 under such circumstances, would far outweigh any supe- 

 riority of the nutritive qualities of the crop at the time the 

 seed is ripe, if such superiority was great, which is seldom 

 found. 



The weight of hay jModuced from grass of the flowering- 

 crop is much less than that which is produced by an equal 

 weight of the grass of the seed crop. In Mr. Young's 

 Annals of Agriculture we are informed, that so long ago as 

 the year 1785, Mr. Boys, of Betshanger in Kent, a farmer 

 of the highest reputation, raised, at much expense, and 

 several years' attention, from twenty to thirty bushels of 

 the seed of this grass, which he then offered for sale at 



