HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 103 



than that of the holcus lanatus : it is extremely soft, dry, and 

 tasteless. The best mode of banishing this impoverishing 

 and most troublesome weed from light arable lands that are 

 infested with it, is to collect the roots with the fork after 

 the plough; and when thus in some measure lessened, to 

 apply yearly sufficient dressings of clay, perhaps fifty loads 

 per acre, till the texture of the soil is changed to a sandy 

 loam : this grass will then be easily overcome, and the fer- 

 tility of the soil permanently increased. 



HOLCUS oduratus (repens). Sweet-scented Soft-grass, or 

 Northern Holy-grass. 



Specific character : Panicle somewhat unilateral ; fruit- 

 stalks smooth ; perfect floret awnless ; barren ones 

 slightly awned. 



Obs. — Botanists have made two species here, which 1 

 include in one, as I can perceive no difference in their 

 structure, habits, or agricultural merits, sufficient to 

 separate them. The nectary is the only part wherein 

 these plants vary from each other in a sensible degree, 

 but what may be accounted for from the circumstances 

 of soil and situation. If they are to remain distinct 

 species, they are artificial in no ordinary degree. Since 

 the above remarks were first published, that important 

 work, the English Flora, has been given to the public : 

 from which it appears that this grass has been found 

 a native of valleys among the Highlands of Scotland, 

 and I willingly submit to the opinion of the author, 

 in considering this species distinct from the holcus 

 AuatraUs. 

 Root creeping. Perennial. Native of valleys among the 

 Highlands of Scotland ; and in Germany grows in 

 moist meadows. 

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



9,528 lbs. per acre. 

 The produce of latter-math is 17,015 lbs. per acre. 



The proportional value in which the grass of the seed crop 

 exceeds that at the time of flowering, is as 21 to 17. The 



