Book VI. HAY GRASSES. 823 



will grow on strong clays, and yield, as the Woburn experiments prove, a prodigious 

 produce, flowering from June to September. It is one of the largest of our grasses. 

 In the fens of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, &c. immense tracts, that used to be over- 

 flowed, and produce useless aquatic plants, and though drained by mills, still retain 

 much moisture, are covered with this grass, which not only atfords rich pasturage in 

 summer, but forms the cliief part of their winter fodder. It has a powerfully creeping 

 root ; and bears frequent mowing well. It is sometimes cut thrice in one season near 

 the Thames. It grows not only in very moist ground, but in the water itself; and with 

 cat's-tail, burr-reed, &c. soon fills up ditches, and occasions them to require frequent 

 cleansing. In this respect it is a formidable plant, even in slow rivers. In the Isle of 

 Ely they cleanse these by an instrument called a bear, which is an iron roller, with a 

 number of pieces of iron, like small spades, fixed to it; this is drawn up and down the 

 river by horses walking along the bank, and tears up the plants by the roots, which float, 

 and are carried down the stream. The grass was, however, cultivated at Woburn on a 

 strong tenacious clay, and yielded considerable produce. 



" 5119. Thefiorin grass {Agrostis stolonifera, d) is a very common grass both in wet and dry, rich and poor 

 situations. Few plants appear to be more under the influence of local circumstances than this grass. On 

 dry soils it is worth nothing ; but on rich marl soils, and in a moist soil, if we may put confidence in the 

 accounts given of its produce in Ireland, it is the most vakiable of all herbage plants. It was first brought 

 into notice by Dr. Richardson, in 1809, and subsequently extolled, and its culture detailed in various 

 jiamphlets by the same gentleman. It appears to be exclusively adapted for moist peat soils or bogs. In 

 The Code of Agriculture, it is said, " On mere bogs, the florin yields a great weight of herbage, and is, 

 perhaps, the most useful plant that bogs can produce." According to Sir H. Davy, the florin grass, to be 

 in perfection, requires a moist climate or a wet soil ; and it grows luxuriantly in cold clays unfltted for 

 other grasses. In light sands, and in dry situations, its produce is much inferior as to quantity and qua- 

 lity. He saw four square yards of florin grass cut in the end of January, in a meadow exclusively appro- 

 priated to the cultivation of florin, by the Countess of Hardwicke, the soil of which is a damp stiff" clay. 

 They afforded twenty-eight pounds of fodder, of which one thousand parts afforded sixty-four parts of 

 nutritive matter, consisting nearly of one-sixth of sugar, and five-sixths of mucilage, with a little extrac- 

 tive matter. In another experiment, four square yards gave twenty-seven pounds of grass. Lady Hard- 

 wicke has given an account of a trial of this grass ; wherein twenty-three milch cows, and one young 

 hoise, besides a number of pigs, were kept a fortnight on the produce of one acre. On the Duke of 

 Bedford's farm, at Maulden, florin hay was placed in the racks before horses, in small distinct quantities, 

 alternately with common hay ; but no decided preference for either was manifested by the horses in this 

 trial. 



5120. There are other species ofagrostis, as the A. palustris and repens, and some va- 

 rieties of the A. stolonifera, that on common soils are little diflferent in their appearance 

 and properties from fiorin. Of one of these, the narrow-leaved creeping bent [A. stotb^ 

 nifern, var. angustifolia), the following remarks are made in the account of the Woburn 

 experiments. " From a careful examination of the creeping-bent with narrow leaves, it 

 will doubtless appear to possess merits well worthy of attention, though perhaps not so great 

 as has been supposed, if the natural place of its growth and habits be impartially taken 

 into the account. From the couchant nature of this grass, it is denominated couch-grass, 

 by practical men, and from the length of time that it retains the vital power, after being 

 taken out of the soil, it is called squitch, quick, full of life, &c. 



5121 . The culture of Jiorin is different from that of other grasses. Though the plant 

 will ripen its seeds on- a dry soil, and these seeds being very small, a few pounds would 

 be sufficient for an acre, yet it is generally propagated by stolones or root-shoots. The 

 ground being well pulverised, freed from weeds, and laid into such beds or ridges as the 

 cultivator may think advisable ; small drills an inch or two deep, and six or nine inches 

 asunder, are to be drawn along its surface, with a hand or horse-hoe, or on soft lands by 

 the hoe-rake. In the bottom of these drills, the fiorin shoots (whether long or short is of 

 no consequence) are laid in lengthways, so as their ends may touch each other, and then 

 lightly covered with a rake, and the surface rolled to render it fit for the sCythe. In six 

 months the Whole surface will be covered with verdure, and if the planting be performed 

 early in spring, a large crop may be had the same autumn. Any season will answer for 

 planting, but one likely to be followed by showers and heat is to be preferred. Tliose 

 who wish to cultivate this grass will consult Dr. Richardson's New Essay on Fiorin 

 C^rass (1813), and also The farmer s Magazine for 1810-14. Our opinion is, that 

 neither fiorin, Timothy, or floating fescue, are ever likely to be cultivated in Britain ; 

 though the two last may perhaps succeed well on the bogs and moist rich soils of Ireland, 

 where, to second the influence of the soil, there is a moist warm climate^ 



5122. A number of other species of tall grasses, well adapted for meadows and hay- 

 making, might be here enumerated ; but we have deemed it better to treat only of the 

 most popular sorts, of which seeds may be purchased, all Ihe others of any consequence 

 will be found in a tabular view (Sect. III.), accompanied by a summary statement of 

 their products, in hay and aftermath, nutritive matter, and general character. 



5123. The preparation of the soil, and sowing of the usual meadoiv grasses, differs in 

 nothing from that of clover and rye-grass already given ; the after treatment of dry mea- 

 dows^ including the makirtg of natural hay, will be found in the succeeding Chapter on 

 the management of grass-lands, and that of watered m<?adoVvs was naturally given whe 

 treating of their formation. f4053.) 



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