122 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



may be done by a thin coat of horse-manure applied in the 

 fall. 



Dactylis glomerata, or orchard-grass, sometimes grows five 

 feet high, and has produced five tons, 1,859 Ibs., an acre. One 

 hundred pounds of it produces thirty pounds of dry hay ; it 

 contains nearly as much of fat and flesh-forming matters as 

 timothy, but contains much less of heat-forming matters. If 

 the latter is worth $5 a ton, orchard-grass will be worth $3 59. 

 It flourishes well in shady places, and receives its trivial name 

 from its adaptation to orchards. It affords a very large amount 

 of after-math, starts very early in the spring, and continues to 

 send out leaves until late in the autumn. It shoots up very 

 rapidly after mowing. Its disposition to grow in tussocks may 

 be prevented by harrowing and rolling in the spring. It flour 

 ishes well on almost all soils and climates, but a sandy loam 

 seems best adapted to bring out all its good qualities. On 

 whatever soil it may be grown, the cattle will eat it in prefer 

 ence to any other, and will adhere to it as long as any of it is 

 left. 



POOL pratensis, a Kentucky blue-grass, in this section does 

 not grow higher than 2 feet, and cannot be relied upon to 

 yield more than a ton and a half to the acre. One hundred 

 pounds of the grass yields thirty-two pounds of dry hay to the 

 acre, and is worth $3 20 per ton when timothy is worth $5. 

 Butter made from this grass will keep sweet longer than that 

 made from any other species. Its after-math is very luxuriant, 

 and it stands the cold better than any other, but is liable to 

 burn up in hot, dry weather. Its favorite locality is a lime 

 stone soil. 



Poa compressa, Wire, or blue-grass, has never been ana 

 lyzed, but is believed to be the most nutritive of our grasses ; 

 it is certainly the heaviest, and grows about twenty inches high, 

 standing thijnly on the ground. It causes an abundant flow of 

 very rich milk, and horses fed upon it alone will do as much 

 work and keep in as good order as when fed upon timothy and 



