140 Agricultural Section [PT n 



but for the formation of pasture or meadow on soils for which it 

 is adapted a small quantity should certainly be sown. 



Commercial Seed. 



The seed is difficult to harvest and to clean, and most samples 

 contain much chaffy material. Even well-dressed lots often contain 

 20 or 30 per cent. Seeds of the Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysanthemum 

 leucanthemum) and Air a flexuosa occur as impurities. (See Figs. 

 41 and 158.) Seed of the latter plant is sometimes entirely sub- 

 stituted for that of Yellow Oat-grass. Aira flexuosa has no agri- 

 cultural value though it may be useful for golf-links, etc. at high 

 elevations. Its seed is plentiful and cheap in comparison with 

 that of Avena flavescens. 



Good samples of Yellow Oat-grass seed will possess a Purity 

 of 75 to 80 per cent, and the pure seed will give a Germination 

 of from 60 to 80 per cent, in 18 days. The weed seeds present 

 should not exceed one or two per cent, by weight, the remaining 

 impurities consisting of chaff principally. 



Avena elatior, L. = ArrJienaiherum avenaceum, Beauv. 

 For Botanical description see p. 63. 



Tall or False Oat-grass is indigenous to the whole of Europe 

 and Western Asia except the extreme north. It is common 

 throughout Britain especially as a hedge-plant on the lighter 

 types of soils. ' It is less frequently met with in open situations 

 or on old pastures and meadows. Though it thrives best on good 

 loams or marls it will give good results on all soils which are not 

 liable to excessive wetness. It is one of our best drought resist- 

 ing grasses and succeeds even on dry soils though on such its 

 yield is naturally reduced. Its development after sowing is very 

 rapid; a good yield is obtained in the first season, and its maxi- 

 mum growth is reached by the second year. Its duration is 

 however correspondingly short as it tends to die out after four 

 or five years on most soils. These qualities make it especially 

 suitable for leys of from two to four years' duration or for tem- 

 porary pasture or meadow. It is one of the most valuable of 

 rotation grasses on light soils ; at the same time it may be used 

 with advantage in mixtures for permanent grass as its rapid 

 development quickly leads to the formation of a productive turf; 



