224 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



these may be named Willard s Bromus, (Bromus secatinus,) Soft Brome Grass, (Bromus 

 Slender Foxtail, (Alopecurus agrestis,~) Creeping Bent Grass, (Agrostis stolonifera,} Conch or 

 Twitch Grass, (Triticum repens,) Rough Stalked Meadow Grass, (Poa trivialis,) Annual Meadow 

 Grass, (Poa annua.) 



Of these, the last three are not always considered as weeds, since they are sometimes sown 

 as pasture grasses ; but when they appear in cultivated grounds, in gravel walks and avenues, 

 they are exceedingly troublesome and difficult to eradicate. Each of the groups previously 

 indicated may be considerably enlarged by a consideration of the natural habits of grasses. 



Many of the grasses which have been described possess but little value for the purposes 

 of cultivation, it is true, but it should not be forgotten that they all have their uses, and 

 these uses in the grand economy of nature are exceedingly important, however they may 

 appear to our short-sighted vision. No plant comes up to the sunlight, or expands its beauti 

 ful leaves, that does not derive its support in part from the atmosphere, and even though its 

 life be short, it adds materially in its decay to the vast mass of vegetable mould which covers 

 the surface of the globe and forms the richness of the soil. This surface mould has been 

 accumulating for ages in many localities; every plant that grew in ages past bringing down 

 to us in a tangible form the riches with which the air that surrounded it was stored, which 

 now lie waiting the farmers use in meadows of exhaustless fertility, in swamps and bogs of 

 vast, increasing utility in our agriculture, and in beds of peat, the value of which we have 

 scarcely begun to appreciate. Thus, the grasses which are not cultivated for their direct 

 nutritive qualities, are not without their value, and they deserve our careful study and 

 attention. 



Nutritive Value Of Grasses- Different species of grass differ very materially in 

 nutritive value, habits of growth, etc., as we have already considered, some being exceedingly 

 nutritious, others possessing but little nutritive value; some yielding a luxuriant aftermath, 

 while others can scarcely be said to produce any at all; some flourishing in elevated situa 

 tions are best suited to the grazing of sheep, while others grow most luxuriantly on the low 

 lands in marshes, and sustain the richest dairies, no soil being so sterile, no plain so barren, 

 but that a grass can be found adapted to it. 



Some varieties, indeed, will not endure a soil even of medium fertility, nor the applica 

 tion of any stimulating manure, but cling with astonishing tenacity to the drifting sands, 

 while others prefer the heaviest clays or revel in the hot beds of ammonia. Some are grega 

 rious in their habits, requiring to be sown with other species, and if sown alone will linger 

 along till the wild grasses spring up to their support; others are solitary, and if mixed with 

 different species will either extirpate them, usurping to themselves the entire soil, or die and 

 disappear. Nearly every species is distinguished for some peculiar quality, and most are 

 deficient in some, comparatively few combining all the qualities desired by us in alternate 

 field-crops, for pastures or permanent mowing, to such an extent as to justify a general cul 

 tivation. It is important, therefore, to learn the comparative nutritive value of each species 

 thought to be worth cultivating. 



This study is naturally attended with great difficulties, but sufficiently accurate researches 

 have been made with a view of arriving at such positive results as would be entitled to full 

 confidence. It is now very well established that the nutritive value of the food of an animal 

 depends chiefly upon the proportion of nitrogenous substances contained in it. Without doubt, 

 the sugar which is found to be an ingredient of most vegetable substances at some periods of 

 their growth, in some degree contributes to it also. The nitrogenous constitutents of any sub 

 stance, as grass or hay, for instance, may be determined with little difficulty and with great 

 exactness, since it has been found by abundant research, that, when present, they are of nearly 

 the same constitution, and do not vary in their combinations. The determination of the sugar 

 is somewhat more difficult. 



