446 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



botanists as the Milium effusum. It is a fibrous-rooted per- 

 ennial, with several creeping shoots. It grows from 3 to 4 

 feet high. It flowers in the second and third weeks of 



o 



June, and ripens its seed in the second week of August. It 

 thrives in rich soils and moist shady woods, but will grow 

 freely when transplanted to open shady situations. It yields 

 an early and bulky crop of herbage, and produces a profusion 

 of small millet -like seeds, which form an agreeable food for 

 young pheasants and other granivorous birds. Where game 

 is preserved, the cultivation of this grass is advised to save 

 the corn. 



It is one of the plants recommended to be sown for perma- 

 nent pasture and hay in orchards and other grounds much 

 overshadowed by trees, and for pasturage and cover in thick 

 shady woods, to the extent of 1 Ib. of the seeds per imperial 

 acre. A bushel of the seeds averages 25 Ib., while the number 

 of seeds in an ounce is about 95,000. 



Phalaris. The reed canary-grass is the Phalaris arun- 

 dinacea of botanists. It is a creeping-rooted perennial, with 

 long horizontal shoots. It grows from 2 to 5 feet high. It 

 flowers in the second week of July, and ripens its seeds near 

 the middle of August. Its limit of altitude is about 1000 feet 

 above the sea-level. It grows in alluvial marshy grounds, by 

 the sides of rivers, lakes, ditches, and rivulets. It is a very 

 strong-growing and coarse-like grass, but eaten with appa- 

 rent relish by cattle and horses, especially when cut prior to 

 flowering. 



The well-known painted lady-grass, ribbon-grass, or garden- 

 er's-garters, is a variegated variety of this grass. 



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

 preparation for irrigation and in marshy grounds, and such as 

 are occasionally overflowed by fresh-water tides, in the propor- 

 tion of from 1 to 2 Ib. per imperial acre. A bushel of the 



