282 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



The experiments of Mr. Dickinson, already very fully detailed, 

 would seem to show that he has fallen upon a most valuable va 

 riety ; and its superiority, to my mind, was decidedly indicated 

 by a comparison of several specimens growing side by side with 

 it in his grounds. The care with which he is saving the seed, 

 and the great demand for it, promise an extended diffusion. It 

 is believed by many that the saving of seed from crops, the first 

 year of their being sown, has induced the habit of an annual 

 upon the plant ; and there is reason to think that much has 

 been, and more may still be, done for the improvement of this, 

 as of other plants, by a careful selection of individual plants 

 which indicate, either greater productiveness, or earlier maturity, 

 or any other valuable property.* 



20. ORCHARD GRASS, OR COCKSFOOT, (Dactylis Glotncrata.} 

 The next grass much cultivated, and most esteemed, is the or 

 chard grass, or cocksfoot. This grass is well known in the 

 United States, having, it is said, been in the first place imported 

 into England from the United States. It is a very quick grower, 

 and makes most excellent feed and hay. The only objection to 

 it is its disposition to grow in patches, which is, in a degree, pre 

 vented by its being frequently mown. A new kind of orchard 

 grass has been introduced, which, for its size and prolificness, has 

 been denominated the giant cocksfoot, and has been much com 

 mended ; but it has not fallen under my observation. 



21. BOKHARA, OR TREE CLOVER. The Bokhara or tree 

 clover, it may be expected that I should allude to, from the 

 celebrity which was at one time given to it. I have seen it cul- 



on, and, in very wet, cold, spongy soils, it will often exhibit a thin stock the 

 second season. Instances have occurred in which as many as five, or even six 

 successive years produce have been reaped from the same field ; but this has 

 arisen more from the ground having been resown in the course of reaping the 

 seed, than from the actual duration of the original plants ; the seeds being re- 

 markably-easily separated from the hay, even though not perfectly ripe, which 

 will always render the harvesting of th^m an operation attended with considera 

 ble care and difficulty.&quot; Lawson. 



* Like all other plants subjected to artificial culture,&quot; say the Messrs. Law- 

 son, &quot; the Italian rye grass is productive of numerous sub-varieties, as a proof of 

 which, we received, in 1838, specimens of no less than fifty distinct spikes, col 

 lected in a field near North Berwick.&quot; 



