164 GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



a greater nutritive substance at the time of blossoming, which 

 is certainly a sufficient consideration of itself, and in the larger 

 growth of the lattermath which will spring up on good land and 

 in a good season. 



We might also reason from analogy in other plants, for it is 

 a well known fact that the best vegetable extracts for medicinal 

 and other purposes, are procured from plants when in blossom. 

 Prof. Kirtland, of Ohio, states that an observing, practical 

 farmer of his neighborhood, after many careful observations on 

 the growth of Timothy, has arrived at these propositions : — 



1. That Timothy grass is a perennial plant, which renews itself 

 by an annual formation of " bulbs," or perhaps, more correctly 

 speaking, tubers, in which the vitality of the plant is concen- 

 trated during the winter. These form in whatever locality the 

 plant is selected, without reference to dryness or moisture. 

 From these proceed the stalks which support the leaves and 

 head, and from the same source spread out the numerous fibres 

 forming the true roots. 



2. To insure a perfect development of tubers, a certain 

 amount of nutrition must be assimilated in the leaves, and 

 returned to the base of the plant, through the stalk. 



3. As soon as the process of nutrition is completed, it 

 becomes manifest by the appearance of a state of desiccation, 

 or dryness, always commencing at a point directly above either 

 the first or second joint of the stem near the crown of the 

 tuber. From this point the desiccation gradually progresses 

 upwards, and the last portion of the stalk that yields up its 

 freshness is that adjoining the head. Coincident with the be- 

 ginning of this process, is the full development of the seeds, and 

 with its progress they mature. Its earliest appearance is evi- 

 dence that both the tubers and seeds have received their requi- 

 site supplies of nutrition, and that neither the stalk nor the 

 leaves are longer necessary to aid them in completing their 

 maturity. A similar process occurs in the union just above 

 the crown of the bulb, indicating the maturity of that organ. 

 Fig. 97 represents the bulb fully developed and mature, from 

 which tlie stalk was cut, after the nutritive process was com- 

 pleted, above the point where drying or desiccation had begun. 



4. If the stalk be cut from the tubers before this evidence of 

 maturity has appeared, the necessary supplies of nutrition will 



