248 IIORTUS GRAMINEUS WO H U UN EN SI S. 



and imposing- further penalties for its inviolability; so that 

 it was rendered penal, not only for any individual (without 

 even excepting the lord of the manor) to cut the bent, but 

 for any one to be in possession of any within eight miles of 

 the coast. 



SPARTINA Jj^wc^fl. Rush-leaved Cord-grass, ov Dactyiis 

 patens. Spreading Cock's-foot Grass. 



Specific character : Spike spreading, flowering a little on 

 one side ; florets bent like an arch ; culm decumbent ; 

 leaves two- rowed, spreading very much; keel of the calyx 

 rough. Native of North America. Root perennial. 



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

 a rich siliceous sandy soil is 33,350 lbs. per acre. 



This grass is very late in the production of foliage in the 

 spring, and it does not come into tlower till the month of 

 August. The produce, considered as a single crop, is then 

 great, but it is the only one it produces in the season. The 

 nutritive qualities of the herbage are likewise inferior to 

 those of most other kinds of grass. The leaves are remark- 

 able for their length, smoothness of surface, and toughness 

 lof fibre. 



1 submitted a quantity of the leaves to the process used 

 for forming flax by steeping, drying, breaking, &c. The 

 results were favourable, inasmuch as the clean fibre was 

 equal in strength and softness to that of flax, but it was 

 deficient in length ; for though the leaves of the grass were 

 as long as the plants of flax in general, yet a considerable 

 portion of the top, or from the point of the leaf, did not 

 stand the effects of the process. The only advantage that 

 appears would result from this plant affording flax is, that it 

 could be produced on a soil unfit for the growth of flax or 

 the production of corn. 



It flowers in the second week of August, and the seed is 

 ripe about the middle of September. 



FESTUCA sj/hatica. Slender Wood Fescue-grass. 



Snecijic character : Spike nodding ; spikelets distant. 



