52 . CHAPTER 5. 



87. Very inferior grasses. 



No. 11. False Oat (Avena elatior) is a very common class of grass, 

 especially abundant on light and calcareous soils, and often growing on 

 hedgebanks. 



No. 12. The Field Brome (Bromus arvensis) is a coarse, common grass. 

 It grows on low-lying ground, and, although not found in water-meadows, 

 will nourish on almost any description of soil. 



No. 13. Fiorin grass (Agrostis stolonifera) is an inferior, very plentiful 

 grass, and will grow on any soil. It has, however, been found useful, 

 yielding a weighty crop on salt marshes, reclaimed bogs, and other damp 

 soils, where the better grasses would not thrive. 



No. 14. The Rough-stalked Meadow-grass (Poa trivialis) is a common 

 inferior grass, found on all soils, but especially abundant on poor soils, 

 whether wet or dry. Though unsuitable for horses, cattle thrive pretty 

 well on it. 



No. 15. Quaking-grass (Briza media) is not abundant, but is found to 

 a certain extent on most poor and low-lying soils. Here and there a few 

 straggling specimens occur on good soils. 



88. Of bad grasses. 



No. 16. Squirrel-tail or Meadow Barley (Hordeum pratense) is a sign 

 of bad and wet land. It has no nutritive value, and is much disliked by 

 horses on account of its bristles, which hurt the gums. 



No. 17. Slender Foxtail (Alopecurus agrestis) marks poor land, and is 

 common in waste places and road-sides. It can hardly be distinguished 

 from meadow foxtail, except by its being smaller and much more slender. 

 It has no nutritive value. In some districts a variety of this grass grows 

 very tall and large on wet, undrained land, and is locally known as Black 

 grass. 



No. 18. Tufted hair-grass (Air a ccespitosa) is very tall, and grows in 

 bunches or large tussocks. It marks very poor soil and low land. Its 

 presence in hay is an invariable sign of worthlessness. The drawing 

 shows the flowering head only. 



No. 19. Rushes (Juncus communis), though not grass, may here be 

 mentioned. They are a marked sign of wet, undrained land. They will, 

 however, continue to exist for years in drained land unless well stocked 

 up, though decreasing each year in size and number. 



The above are the principal grasses which, according to circumstances, 

 prevail in upland and lowland meadows. A purely upland grass will not 

 be found at all in lowland meadows. Others, however, are common to 

 both, but become ranker and coarser in their stems and leaves in propor- 

 tion as the soil is wet. 



89. Upland herbage. 



Of the plants constituting good upland herbage, the several varieties of 

 the Trefoil are the most important. 



No. 22. White or Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens) flourishes on good 

 upland soils, wherever there is a fair proportion of lime in the soil. 



