444 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



grass, and for warrens or light sandy downs. A bushel of the 

 seeds averages 15 lb., and the number of seeds in an ounce is 

 about 27,000. 



The common' rye-grass is the Lolium perenne. It is a 

 fibrous-rooted grass of biennial, triennial, or quadriennial dura- 

 tion. It grows from 15 inches to 2 feet high. When not more 

 than three years old, it flowers in the second week of June, and 

 ripens its seed in about twenty-five days after. As the plants 

 become older they flower later, sometimes so late as the be- 

 ginning of August. It grows naturally in meadows and rich 

 pastures. There are very many varieties of this grass, differ- 

 ing in bulk of herbage and durability in the pasture ; the 

 more permanent being termed perennial, and the less perma- 

 nent annual. None, however, are strictly perennial, while the 

 term annual is equally inapplicable. One of the most perma- 

 nent varieties is called, owing to the fineness of its foliage, 

 Lolium perenne tenue, and it is much recommended to be 

 sown in lawns. Other varieties are the broad-spiked rye- 

 grass, Pacey's rye-grass, Eussel's grass, Whitworth's grass, 

 Stickney's grass, panicled rye-grass, double-flowered rye-grass, 

 viviparous rye-grass, and many more, to the number of seventy. 

 Mr Sinclair says there has been much difference of opinion 

 respecting the merits and comparative value of rye-grass. It 

 produces an abundance of seed, which is easily collected, and 

 readily vegetates on most kinds of soil, under circumstances of 

 different management. It soon arrives at perfection, and pro- 

 duces in its first years of growth a good supply of early herb- 

 age, which is much liked by cattle ; but the after- crop of rye- 

 grass is very inconsiderable, and the plant impoverishes the 

 soil in a high degree, if the culms, which are invariably left 

 untouched by cattle, are not cut before the seed advances 

 towards perfection. When this is neglected, the field after 

 midsummer exhibits only a brown surface of withered straws. 



