MANNA-GRASS, OR FLOAT-FESCUE. 441 



It is one of the plants recommended to be sown in fine 

 lawns, bowling-greens, &c., kept constantly under the scythe, 

 in the proportion of from 1 lb.. to 2 Ib. per imperial acre. A 

 bushel of the seeds averages 12 lb., and the number of seeds 

 in the ounce is about 88,000. 



Glyceria, water sweet meadow - grass, or reed meadow- 

 grass, the Poa aquatica of Hooper and the older botanists, is 

 now often called the Glyceria aquatica. It is a creeping-rooted 

 perennial. It flowers in the second week of July, and ripens 

 its seed in the middle of August. It grows in alluvial marshy 

 soils, in slow-running streams, margins of fresh-water lakes. 

 " On the banks and little islands of the Thames, where this 

 grass is generally mown twice a-year for hay, it affords abund- 

 ant crops of valuable winter fodder, which cows and horses are 

 fond of. It yields an immense bulk of coarse and by no means 

 innutritious herbage, but is apt, by its rapid growth and exten- 

 sively creeping roots, to choke up ditches and small streams." 



It is one of the plants recommended to be sown in marshy 

 grounds, and such as are occasionally overflowed by fresh- 

 water tides, &c., to the extent of from 2 lb. to 5 lb. per impe- 

 rial acre. A bushel of the seeds averages 13 J lb., while the 

 number of seeds in an ounce is about 58,000. 



The floating meadow-grass, floating sweet -grass, manna- 

 grass, or float-fescue, formerly named Poa fluitans, is now 

 often called Glyceria fluitans. It is a fibrous-rooted perennial. 

 It grows from 15 "inches to 2 feet high. It flowers in the 

 third week of June, and ripens its seed about the end of July. 

 It grows in alluvial marshes, also in and by the margins of 

 shallow pools, slow-running streams, and lakes. " It is an 

 early, very sweet, and nutritious grass, well suited for irrigated 

 meadows ; its seeds form an agreeable food for waterfowl and 

 fresh-water fish." It bears cultivation on moderately dry 

 grounds as a permanent pasture grass, and yields a consider- 



