ANALYSES OF ARTIFICIAL GRASSES. 



381 



advanced to stand the winter its herbage is indeed cut down 

 by the frost, but its roots escape and send up shoots in April. 

 It must be cut when young and succulent ; for when it rises 

 above 2 feet in height, its stems become fibrous and harsh to 

 the taste. The objection, indeed, made to it by some agricul- 

 turists is, that it is too watery when young, and too stringy 

 when old. It does bear much moisture when young, and is 

 therefore, then, all the more succulent. 



Being a biennial, in the second year it throws up six or 

 eight stems, which attain a height from seven to ten feet, 

 throwing out side branches. It thus becomes covered with a 

 profusion of small white flowers with an odour not unlike that 

 of the sweet-scented vernal grass, the Anthoxanihum odoratum. 



Of the flowers of this plant, as of those of the kindred 

 plants in this family, the honey-bee is very fond. It deserves 

 therefore to be cultivated in the farmer's garden, both for this 

 purpose and as highly ornamental. Nor is this remark so 

 much out of place as it may seem at first sight, since the 

 honey-bee is in reality one of the farm animals from which the 

 diligent agriculturist may derive both comfort and profit. 



ANALYSIS OP ARTIFICIAL GRASSES 



(as taken from the field). 



