PROGRESS HAS BEEN VERY SLOW. 199 



even from the first settlement of this country. In a work writ- 

 ten by Jared Elliott in 1749, the cultivation of Timothy and 

 fowl meadow is strongly recommended, the latter grass is espec- 

 ially lauded as in many respects better than any other. 



Timothy and red top in the East were sown very extensively, 

 and sea weed and fish were successfully used as manures. Al- 

 though we were thus early in forming artificial meadows and 

 pastures, our subsequent improvement has not kept pace with 

 our early enterprise, and we are now far behind England and 

 Scotland in this department of husbandry. 



In 1824 a new and most important stimulus to their cultiva- 

 tion was offered by the Duke of Bedford, who published his 

 work, giving an account of experiments made by George Sinclair. 

 Since that time Parnell, Way, Lawes and Gilbert, Buckman and 

 Voelcker in Great Britain have done much to advance our 

 knowledge. Numerous prize essays and other communications 

 have appeared, and progress has been rapid and substantial, yet 

 even in Great Britain as late as 1882, one of the best experi- 

 menters, C. De L. F. DeLaune, says : " Unfortunately for owners 

 and occupiers of land, the grossest ignorance prevails about 

 grasses. To many almost every herb that is green is considered 

 to be grass." 



Progress Has Been Very Slow. Most of the following para- 

 graph is taken from Gould: 



It will not be denied that farmers, in general, bestow much 

 less care, or thought, upon their meadows than they do upon 

 their grain lands. Not many can name for certain half a dozen 

 kinds, and not one farmer in ten thousand knows the names of 

 the grasses growing on his farm, or can discriminate between 

 them. Grass is grass, and that is all they trouble themselves to 

 know. Very many are not aware that they have any other va- 

 rieties than Timothy, clover (which is not a grass) and red top 

 growing on their farms, although they may have a dozen or 



