218 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBU11NENSIS. 



desired by us in alternate field crops, for pastures, or 

 permanent mowing, to such an extent as to justify a 

 general cultivation. 



It is important, therefore, to learn the comparative 

 nutritive value of each species thought to be worth 

 cultivating; and it is the object of this chapter to throw 

 some light upon this point. 



This study is naturally attended with great difficulties. 

 It is but recently that accurate researches have been 

 made with a view of arriving at such positive results as 

 would be entitled to full confidence. 



In 1824, a very laudable attempt was made, in Eng- 

 land, by the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn Abbey, to 

 ascertain the comparative value of most of the grasses 

 which could then be obtained ; and the results of the 

 experiments, conducted by his gardener, George Sin- 

 clair, were detailed in a volume under the title of " Nor- 

 tus Gramineus Woburnensis." This work, which was the 

 first treatise worthy of mention on this subject, became 

 the text-book on the grasses, and has been followed, by 

 most subsequent writers, down to the present time. 

 But these experiments must be regarded as very unsat- 

 isfactory, both on account of the imperfections of the 

 methods of arriving at the results (though they were 

 the best then known, and suggested by Sir Humphrey 

 Davy), and because each species or variety was culti- 

 vated only to a very limited extent. The produce per 

 acre, for instance, was calculated, in most cases, from 

 the yield of four square feet. Besides this, very great 

 discrepancies occur in the volume, which can with diffi- 

 culty be accounted for. 



The analyses recently made by Professor Way, the 

 distinguished chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 are more reliable, in my estimation, than any which can 

 be found, and no treatise on the grasses would be com- 



