60 GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



known from the thorough and reliable analyses of Prof. Waj. 

 By these it appears that 100 parts of Timothy grass, as taken 

 from the field, contain 57.21 per cent, of water, 4.86 per cent, 

 of albuminous or flesh forming principles, 1.50 per cent, of 

 fatty.matters, 22.85 per cent, of heat producing principles, such 

 as starch, gum, sugar, &c., 11.32 per cent, of woody fibre, and 

 2.26 of mineral matter or ash, while 100 parts of Italian ryQ 

 grass taken from the same kind of soil and in the same condi- 

 tion, green, contained 75.61 per cent, of water, 2.45 of albu- 

 minous or flesh forming principles, .80 of fatty matters, 14.11 

 of heat producing principles, starch, gum and sugar, 4.82 of 

 woody fibre, and 2.21 of mineral matter or ash. Of these, the 

 flesh forming principles, fatty matters, and heat producing 

 principles, are, of course, by far the most important ; and in 

 all these our favorite Timothy very far excels the Italian rye 

 grass, showing a nutritive value nearly double. Nor has the 

 Italian rye grass any advantage over Timothy or Herds-grass in 

 the dried state, though the difference is by no means so 

 marked, the former dried at 212° Fahrenheit containing 10.10 

 per cent, of flesh forming principles, the latter 11.36 ; the 

 former containing 3.27 per cent, of fatty matter, the latter 

 3.55 ; the former containing 57.82 per cent, of heat forming 

 principles, the latter 53.35. 



There are 432,000 seeds in a pound of Italian rye grass and 

 from thirteen to eighteen pounds in a bushel. 



The Bearded Darnel, (lolium temulentum^^ is sometimes 

 found in our grain fields, with its glume equalling the five to 

 seven flowered spikelets, and awn longer than the flower. Its 

 grain is poisonous — almost the only instance known among the 

 grasses. 



The Many-Flowered Darnel, (Jolinm mjiltijlorim,') is, per- 

 haps, the most showy species of rye grass, cultivated. It is 

 but very rarely, if ever, met with here, though it was intro- 

 duced from France to England about thirty years ago, and is 

 cultivated to some extent. Fig. 58 shows the appearance of 

 tliis grass, and Fig. 59 a magnified spikelet. It is very nearly 

 allied, if not identical with Italian rye grass. 



Couch Grass, Quitch Grass, Twitch Grass, Dog Grass, 

 Chandler Grass, &c., (triticum repens.') The chief gcnerio 

 marks of this grass are, three or several flowered spikelets, 



