178 HORTUS (iRAMlNEUS WO BU RN E N SI S. 



provenients now alluded to, were not the best fitted for the 

 soils in question, it will follow that such improvements may 

 be greatly extended, by adopting those grasses best fitted 

 for the soil, and that without any additional trouble or 

 expense. 



FESTUCA ovina. Sheep's Fescue. 



Specijic character: Panicle unilateral, rather close; 



florets cylindrical, pointed or awned, smooth at the base 



and at the edges of the inner valve ; stem square ; 



leaves folded, bristle-shaped ; stipula short and obtuse. 

 Native of Britain. Root fibrous. Perennial. 

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



a light sandy soil is 5,445 lbs. per acre. 



When cultivated on a heath soil, the produce was some- 

 what less than the above, but from a rich sandy loam, the 

 produce afforded was greater than from the Ught sandy soil ; 

 but, as the superior pasture grasses thrive well on this last- 

 mentioned soil, and afford a produce superior to that of the 

 sheep's-fescue on the same soil, as 3 to 1, its comparative 

 value may be considered only with regard to its natural soil, 

 and the grasses it produces. The smallness of the produce 

 renders it entirely unfit for hay, and the dry weight was in 

 consequence not ascertained. 



When its produce and nutritive powers are compared with 

 those of the purple fescue (festuca rubra), on the same soil, 

 its inferiority is great. 



The comparative degree of nourishment which the grass 

 of the festuca rubra affords at the time of ripening the seed, 

 and the latter-math, exceeds that of the festuca ovina at the 

 same stages of growth, in the proportion of nearly 14 to 11 ; 

 and exceeds the f. ovina, in regard to the total produce of 

 the season, in the proportion nearly of 1 1 to 7. 



From the trial that has here been detailed, the sheep's 

 fescue does not prove to possess the nutritive powers 

 generally ascribed to it. It has the advantage of a fine 

 foliage, which is succulent, and may therefore, very probably, 

 be better adapted to the masticating organs of sheep than 



