Ch.XXIV.] , ON RYE-GRASS.' 299 



The -produce of seed is infinitely various : in some seasons it has not 

 exceeded two, in others five, some extensive crops have exceeded eight, 

 and a few have reached so high as ten, twelve, and even fourteen bushels ; 

 but the average cannot be assumed at more on most soils than, at the most, 

 six bushels per acre : averaging in weight about 64 lbs. each. Although 

 the wliite and red species difler considerably in appearance, and require dif- 

 ferent soils, yet, when grown upon land which is suitable to each, they are 

 nearly equally jjroductive. In price, however, the white has the advantage, 

 in consequense of its being less cultivated than the red as a separate crop. 

 The actual price in the London Market, for new English seed, is — 



White, or Dutch Clover, 75s. to 82s. : superf. 85s. to 90s. per cwt. 



Red, or broad-leaved ditto, 68s. to 75s. : do. 80s. to 82s. ,, 



Of Hay, the produce of the first cut, upon land of good ordinary quality, 

 may in general be estimated at about one and a half to two loads, and 

 that of the second at perhaps half the quantity : both, of course, depending 

 greatly upon the state of the season. 



ON RYE-GRASS, 



we have little to add to the remarks which we have already made upon 

 the cultivation of clover. The perennial species lasts from three to six years, 

 and may be grown under common management upon almost any kind of 

 soil that is not too tenacious; it is therefore always sown along- with the 

 grasses intended for permanent pasture. There is, however, a kind called 

 " Annual Rye-Grass " — though it is in fact a biennial plant — which is more 

 productive than the perennial sort in the year after being sown, and there- 

 fore is preferred when the land is to be broken up after producing a crop 

 of hay ; but it is extremely difficult to ascertain, by the seed, the dif- 

 ference which exists between them, and thus frequent mistakes are made 

 in their growth. The Italian species — which we noticed in our account of 

 natural grasses — has been found to support its perennial cliaracter. It has 

 been sown with barley without hurting the crop ; and, by sowing a little 

 thinner, it is found not to choke the clover in the first crop, while its quick 

 growth enables it to keep a-head of it in the second, producing hay little in- 

 ferior to the first. At the last meeting of the Edinburgh Agricultural Society, 

 it was stated by Professor Traill, that it was found in the experimental garden 

 established by the Duke of Buccleuch, to arrive at maturity much earlier 

 than any other perennial rye-grass, and to produce nearly double the 

 quantity. The experiments made upon it, indeed, show that it is decidedly 

 relished by cattle in pasture ; and in hay — having been submitted to horses 

 along with that of the common rye-grass, in separate bundles, — it was 

 uniformly preferred. When allowed to ripen the seed, it is also said to give 

 double that of the rye -grass, and the nutritive substance extracted from the 

 herbage affords more saccharine matter than that of the celebrated sort 

 known as " Pacey's*." Stickey's Rye-grass has also been highly extolled 

 in the East Riding of Yorkshire as very superior to all other varieties for 

 forming a closely-matted sward, continuing its verdure through all seasons, 

 and being less liable to run into bents.f 



Although the common species has been longer cultivated in England 

 than any other kind of grass, and is still extensively grown, there are yet 

 various opinions regarding its value, and it is considered to have an exliaust- 

 ing effect upon the soil. There can indeed be no doubt of this, if it be 



* See the Third Report of Drummond's Agric. Mus. at Stirling, p. 65. 



t Farmer's series, in the Library of Useful Knowledge : farming at Ridgemontj p. 146. 



