nORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 95 



but the majority of the grasses which compose the produce 

 of the pastures in question, thrive best in a middle state be- 

 tween moisture and dryness. Observation will furnish abun- 

 dant proofs of the truth of this, by comparing the different 

 states of productiveness in natural pastures, during a season 

 of changeable weather, with those of artificial pastures under 

 the like influence of soil and climate. It flowers about the 

 middle of June, and ripens the seed in the third week of July. 

 When cultivated on a poor siliceous soil, or on a thin heath 

 soil, the culms become very fine and slender, and promise to 

 be valuable for the manufacture of straw hats. 



FESTUCA Cambrica. Welsh Fescue. 



Specific character : Panicle compact, oblong, upright, 

 branched, spikelets awl-shaped, awned, leaves flat. — 

 Fig.l. Spikelet magnified. 2. Floret magnified, show- 

 ing the spreading-feathered stigmas. 



Obs. — This CONSTANT variety oi festuca rubra is distin- 

 guished at first sight from i\\efestiica ovina, and varieties 

 oi festuca rubra, and J'estuca duriuscula, by the pale 

 green colour of the panicle and culm. The root leaves 

 grow more upright and flat ; when cultivated, the spike- 

 lets consist of ten or twelve florets. Stipulse membrane- 

 ous, blunt. 



Root creeping. Perennial. 



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

 a sandy soil is 6,806 lbs. per acre. 



The value of the grass at each stage of growth is equal. 

 The superior weight of nutritive matter afforded by the crop 

 at the time the seed is ripe, arises from the increase of grass 

 which takes place during the time the seed is perfecting ; 

 and in this case, as in all others where it is shown that the 

 nutritive matter of the seed crop exceeds that contained in 

 the flowering crop, the loss of latter-math which would have 

 been produced in the time the seed was perfecting must 

 always be considered : this caution is perhaps unnecessary 

 to the truly practical farmer. When the practice becomes 

 general of saving the necessary quantity of seed for the farm. 



