1097 



ought, I conceive, to be aut much earlier, when in flower in July and 

 August, as it is then more tender and succulent, and the rancid smell, 

 which to myself comes near that of phosphuretted hydrogen, is not 

 repulsive to stock, to which it probably recommends itself by the salt 

 it contains. For this reason, and from the power of the creeping 

 roots to bind and consolidate the soft soil deposited by the tide, it 

 might be advantageously planted on the mud-flats of our southern and 

 eastern coasts. In America, S. alterniflora abounds from north to 

 south. I observed it abundantly at Boston, New York, and at 

 Charleston, S. C, on the mud-flats of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, 

 and in the salt swamps and creeks that intersect the suburban dis- 

 tricts of that pretty but insalubrious city. I am not aware of any use 

 this grass is put to in New England or at New York, but in Charles- 

 ton, where, as at Southampton, it covers acres of salt marsh around 

 the town, looking at a distance, when ripe, somewhat like fields of 

 wheat, it is of great importance, and in the months of May and June, 

 when fresh and succulent, and before flowering,* bundles of Spartina 

 (there called " salt-marsh," or simply " marsh," sometimes " grass "), 

 made up like wheat-sheaves and set on end, may be seen for sale at 

 the corners of the streets and in the markets, chiefly for the use of 

 horses. An intelligent negro of Charleston assured me that from May 

 to September stock were very fond of it, but refused it earlier and 

 later, when it becomes hard, dry and unpalatable, and I think loses 

 much of its odour. This man further told me that a coarse hay was 

 made from it, and the straw used for littering cattle, thus confirming 

 Elliott's account in every particular. That its properties and appli- 

 ances should so soon have been discovered and carried out in Eng- 

 land, where the field for experiment was so contracted, is a curious 

 circumstance in the history of this interesting grass, and speaks much 

 for its practical value to the agriculturist. Professor Gray, in his 

 ' Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States,' fears to adopt 

 the prior name, alterniflora, of Loiseleur Deslongchamps for Muhlen- 

 berg's glabra, not being certain that the two plants are the same, 

 since Trinius says the leaves are " margine hispidula." The South- 

 ampton plant at all events has the leaves perfectly smooth on the 

 edges, and so, as far as I can see, have those of a single Unio Itine- 



affords, however, good pasturage for out-door stock, and is becoming valuable and 

 valued as a manure." (' Sketch of the Botany of S. Carolina and Georgia,' i. p. 96). 

 * At Charleston it flowers scarcely a month earlier than at Southampton, where it 

 begins to blossom towards the end of July, continuing on into September. 



Vol hi. 7 b 



