84 WOOD MEADOW GRASS. 



grass when lodged ; in a little, time after it is thus fallen 

 down, at every joint it puts forth a new branch. Now, to 

 maintain this young brood of suckers there must be a 

 plentiful course of sap conveyed up through the main 

 stem or straw ; by this means the grass is kept green 

 and fit for mowing all this long period." 



It grows abundantly in almost every part of New 

 England, especially where it has been introduced and 

 cultivated in suitable ground, such as the borders of 

 rivers and intervals occasionally overflowed. It will 

 not endure to be long covered with water, especially in 

 warm weather. It is well to let a piece go to seed, 

 save the seed, and scatter it over low lands. It makes 

 an excellent grass for oxen, cows, and sheep, but is 

 thought to be rather fine for horses. It never grows 

 so coarse or hard but that the stalk is sweet and tender, 

 and eaten without waste. It is easily made into hay, 

 and is a nutritive and valuable grass. Owing to its 

 constantly sending forth flowering stems, the grass of 

 the lattermath contains more nutritive matter than the 

 first crop at the time of flowering ; hence the names 

 fertilis and serotina, fertile and late flowering meadow 

 grass. It thrives best when mixed .with other grasses, 

 and deserves a place in all mixtures for rich, moist 

 pastures. 



WOOD MEADOW GRASS (Poa nemoralis) grows from 

 eighteen inches to two feet high ; has a perennial, 

 creeping root, an erect stem, slender and smooth ; the 

 upper sheath no longer than its leaf, with a very short 

 ligule, the base of the floret having a silky web sus- 

 pending the calyx ; leaves light-green. Fig. 54. It is 

 common in moist, shady places, and appears as a tall, 

 rank grass, with a long, finely-arched panicle. It 

 flowers in June, and ripens its seed in July. A magni- 

 fied flower is seen in Fig. 55. 



