GREEN MANURING GRASSES. 209 



Chess (Bromus secalinus). 



Soft Brome Grass (Bromus mollis). 



Slender Foxtail (Alopecurus agrestis). 



Florin (Agrostis stolonifera). 



Couch Grass (Triticum repens). 



Rough- stalked Meadow (Poa trivialis). 



Annual Spear Grass (Poa annua). 



Blue or Wire Grass (Poa compressa). 

 Of these, the last four are not always considered 

 as weeds, since they are sometimes sown as pasture 

 grasses ; but, when they appear in cultivated grounds, 

 in gravel-walks, and avenues, they are exceedingly 

 troublesome, and difficult to eradicate. 



VI. GRASSES ADAPTED FOR CULTURE AS GREEN MA- 

 NURING PLANTS. It is evident, on reflection, that green 

 vegetable manuring is the natural and cheapest means 

 of replenishing the constant waste and exhaustion of 

 the richer qualities of the soil in the production of 

 grains and the higher grasses used in the nourishment 

 of animals, especially when these products are con- 

 sumed at a distance from where they grew. It is rare 

 that the farmer restores to the soil all or as much as he 

 takes from it. Even the animal can hardly be said to 

 restore to the land on which he feeds all he takes from 

 it, unless his body is left to decay beneath the surface 

 of the sod which helped to build up his bony and mus- 

 cular frame ; and this is rarely the case in practical 

 farming. The farmer himself sells more or less of the 

 products of his labor and of his soil to be transported 

 to considerable distances, never to be restored ; and 

 hence the land very rarely receives the full compensa- 

 tion for what has been taken from it in the shape of 

 hay, grains, vegetables, or pasturage. 



Nature, left to herself, prevents any exhaustion by the 

 18* 



