442 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



able produce. When properly cultivated, the bread made of it 

 is said to be little inferior to bread made from wheat. 



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

 preparation for irrigation, in the proportion of from 2 Ib. to 2f 

 lb.; and in marshy grounds, and such as are occasionally over- 

 flowed by fresh -water tides, in the proportion of 5 lb. per im- 

 perial acre. A bushel of the seeds averages 14^ lb., while the 

 number of seeds in an ounce is about 33,000. 



Holcus. Under the genus Holcus fall the grasses known as 

 woolly soft-grass and creeping soft-grass. 



The Holcus lanatus is the woolly soft-grass, called also white 

 grass and Yorkshire fog. It is a fibrous-rooted perennial. It 

 flowers in the first week of July, and ripens its seeds about the 

 end of the same month. It grows in almost all soils and situa- 

 tions, but is regarded as a weed on the better class of pasture 

 lands. Cattle of all kinds seem to dislike it, and horses in 

 particular have an aversion to it. Its limit of altitude is about 

 1500 feet above the sea-level. 



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

 and moory land, which have been improved with a view to their 

 producing better pasturage, in the proportion of from 2 lb. to 

 2J lb. of seed per imperial acre. A bushel of the seed averages 

 7 lb., while the number of seeds in an ounce is about 95,000. 



The Holcus mollis is the creeping soft-grass. It is, as its 

 name denotes, a creeping-rooted perennial. It grows from one 

 to three feet high. It flowers in the second week of July, and 

 ripens its seed in August. Its limit of altitude is about 1500 

 feet above the sea-level. It is not so common in Britain as 

 the Holcus lanatus. It grows generally on light, barren, sandy 

 soil, either in woods or open pastures. Neither horses, oxen, 

 nor sheep eat it ; pigs are said to like the roots, which con- 

 tain a considerable proportion of nutritive substance, having 

 much the flavour of new meal. 



