32 GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



glumes tvro, herbaceous, keeled, long-pointed. Stamens three, 

 seed ol)long, acute, free. Named from dactylus, a finger. 



Orchard grass flowers in dense tufts. Its stem is erect, about 

 three feet high. I have found specimens in good soil, over five 

 feet high. Leaves linear, flat, dark green, rough on both surfaces, 

 which, with the fancied resemljlance of its loose tufts to the 

 foot of a barnyard fowl, have given it the common name in Eng- 

 land of rough cocksfoot. Root perennial. Flowers in June and 

 July. Not \incommon in fields and pastures. It is seen in 

 Fig. 21. A magnified spikelet is shown in Fig. 22. 



This is one of the most valuable and widely known of all the 

 pasture grasses. It is common to every country in Europe, to 

 the north of Africa, and to Asia as Avell as to America. Its 

 culture was introduced into England from Virginia, where it 

 had been cultivated some years previously, in 1764. It forms 

 one of the most common grasses of English natural pastures, 

 on rich, deep, moist soils. It became, soon after its introduc- 

 tion into England, an oljject of special agricultural interest 

 among cattle feeders, having been found to be exceedingly pala^ 

 table to stock of all kinds. Its rapidity of growth, the lux- 

 uriance of its aftermath and its power of enduring the cropping 

 of cattle, commend it highly to the farmer's care, especially 

 as a pasture grass. As it blossoms earlier than Timothy, and 

 about the time of red clover, it makes an admirable mixture 

 with that plant, to cut in the blossom and cure for hay. As a 

 pasture grass it should be fed close, both to prevent its forming 

 thick tufts and to prevent its running to seed, when it loses a 

 large proportion of its nutritive matter, and becomes hard and 

 wiry. All kinds of stock eat it greedily when green. 



Judge Buel, distinguished as a man of taste, said of this 

 grass: "I should prefer it to ahnost every other grass, and cows 

 are very fond of it." Elsewhere he says : " The American 

 Cocksfoot, or Orchard Grass, is one of the most abiding grasses 

 we have. It is probably better adapted than any other grass to 

 sow with clover and other seeds for permanent pasture or for 

 hay, as it is fit to cut with clover and grows remarkably quick 

 when cropped by cattle. Five or six days' growth in summer 

 suffices to give a good bite. Its good properties consist in its 

 early and rapid growth and its resistance of drouth ; but all 

 agree that it should be closely cropped. Sheep will pass over 



