GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



153 



nerved. Flowers in July. Pastures and moist meadows very common introduced. The 

 term Agrostis was the ancient Greek word for field, and was applied to all varieties of grass 

 that grew there. 



This valuable grass, so common in all our cultivated fields, has been an inhabitant of our 

 soils for more than a century. It was called simply English grass by Eliot, Deane, and other 

 early writers, and by the English, Fine Bent. Indeed, the 

 whole genus agrostis is commonly known in England as &quot; Bent 

 Grass.&quot;&quot; This grass is often sown with timothy and clover, in 

 which case the clover, of course, soon disappears, being biennial, 

 when timothy follows, after which red top usually takes its 

 place, and with some wild grasses forms a close sward. In 

 Pennsylvania and States further south, it is universally known 

 as Herds-grass a name applied in New England and New 

 York to Phleum pratense alone. It is of somewhat slow growth, 

 but of good or medium quality. It is suited to moist soils, 

 though common to all. This grass is probably rather overrated. 

 It makes profitable crop for spending, though not so large a 

 crop is obtained as from Herds-grass. It is a good permanent 

 grass, and consequently well-suited to Northern pastures, as it 

 endures that climate as well as any other grass. It should be 

 fed close in pastures, for if allowed to grow up to seed the 

 cattle refuse it; and this fact seems to show that it is not so 

 much relished by stock as some of the other pasture grasses. 

 The fact that cattle eat any grass greedily in the spring, is no 

 proof of its excellence or nutritious qualities, since, then, all 

 grasses are tender and full of juice, and many varieties of both 

 grasses and shrubs are readily eaten, which at a more advanced 

 stage of growth are refused. 



This grass goes by various names, and is greatly modified 

 by soil and cultivation. On a moist, rich soil it grows larger 

 than on a poor, thin soil, and not only larger but has a darker 

 purplish color, with a stem varying from eighteen inches to 

 two feet or two and a half feet high; while on thin, poor, 

 gravelly soils, it seldom grows over twelve inches, and often not 

 over five or six inches high, while it has a lighter color. In the 

 latter situations it goes by the name of Finetop, and is univers 

 ally seen in dry pastures. In some sections of Massachusetts, 

 as in Bristol County, it goes by the name of Burden s or Bor- 

 den s grass, or Ehode Island Bent, and is highly esteemed. 



Finetop may be regarded as a variety of redtop, produced 

 by the character of the soil. 



Dew Grass, White Top, White Bent, English Bent, Bonnet Grass, (Agrostis 

 alba.) Generic characters same as those of redtop. Specific characters: Stem erect, round, 

 smooth, polished, having four or five leaves with somewhat rough sheaths, striated, upper 

 sheath longer than its leaf, crowned with a long, acute, ragged ligule; joints smooth, 

 branches numerous, recumbent, rooting at the lower joints where they come in contact with 

 the ground; panicle somewhat narrower than in redtop, lightish green, or with a slight tinge 

 of purple; lower or inner palea one-half the length of the upper, and shorter than the 

 glumes; five nerved, awnless perennial. Native of Europe. 



REDTOP. 



