GRA 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



GRA 



637 



upon each other ; for instance, all the Nut-bearing trees may 

 be safely grafted on each other, as may all the Plum-trees, 

 including also the Almond, Peach, Nectarine, Apricot, &c. 

 which agree exactly in their general characters, by which 

 they are distinguished from all other trees ; but as many of 

 these are very subject to emit large quantities of gum from 

 those parts which are deeply cut or wounded, (for the tender 

 trees of this kind, such as Peaches and Nectarines, are most 

 subject to these gummy exudations,) it is found to be the 

 safest way to have recourse to budding or inoculation : see 

 Inoculation. All such trees as bear cones will do well upon 

 each other, though they may differ as to one being evergreen, 

 and the other shedding its leaves in winter, as is observable 

 in the cedar of Libanus, and the Larch-tree, which are found 

 to succeed very well upon each other; but these must be 

 grafted by approach, for they abound with a great quantity 

 of resin, which is apt to evaporate from the graft, if separated 

 from the tree before it is joined with the stock, by which 

 they are often destroyed. The Laurel likewise on the Cherry, 

 and t!ia> vers(i. All the mast-bearing trees will also take 

 upon each other, and those which have a tender soft wood 

 will do well if grafted in the common way ; but those that 

 are of a firm contexture, and are slow growers, should always 

 be grafted by approach. By strictly adhering to these rules, 

 the operation will seldom miscarry when rightly performed 

 at a proper season, unless the weather should prove very 

 bad, as it sometimes happens, whereby whole quarters of 

 fruit-trees miscarry. And it is by this method that many kinds 

 of exotic trees are not only propagated, but also rendered 

 hardy enough to endure the cold of our climate in the open 

 air; for, being grafted upon stocks of the same sort which 

 are hardy, the grafts are rendered more capable to endure 

 the cold, as has been experienced by most of our valuable 

 fruits now in England, which were formerly transplanted 

 here from more southerly climates, and were at first too im- 

 patient of our cold to succeed well abroad, but have been, 

 by budding or grafting upon more hardy trees, rendered 

 capable of resisting our severest cold. 



Grain, Oily. See Sesamum. 



Grain, Scarlet. See Quercus Rubra. 



Grains of Paradise. See Amomum. 



Gramen. See Grass. 



Grape. See Vitis. 



Grape Hyacinth. See Hyacinthus. 



Grape, Sea. See Ephedra, 



Grape, Sea-side. See Coccoloba. 



Grass, is a general name applied to those herbaceous 

 plants that are employed in the feeding and fattening of 

 cows, sheep, &c. It has been long since observed, in an 

 able treatise on the grasses of this country, that much of our 

 meadow and pasture land may be rendered infinitely more 

 valuable than it is at present, by the introduction of some of 

 the best Grasses we possess. This opinion prevails among 

 the more enlightened agriculturists of the present age, some 

 of whom have endeavoured to excite the husbandman to col- 

 lect and cultivate seeds of this sort, by writings fraught with 

 the soundest reasonings ; while others have endeavoured to 

 attract him by the offers of well-directed premiums. Hi- 

 therto, however, neither the able arguments of the one, nor 

 the liberal rewards of the other, have been found sufficient 

 to induce the husbandman to deviate from the beaten track; 

 and Mr. Stillingfleet, the author above alluded to, sensibly 

 adds, " It is wonderful to see how long mankind has neglect- 

 ed to make a proper advantage of plants of such importance, 

 and which, in almost every country, are the chief food of 

 cattle. The farmer, neglecting to distinguish and select 

 VOL. i. 54. 



grasses for feed, fills his pastures either with weeds, or bad 

 and improper grasses ; when, by making an easy experiment, 

 he might, after some trials, ensure the introduction of the 

 best and most productive grasses that his land would bear. 

 At present, if a farmer wants to lay down his land to grass, 

 what does he do? he either takes his seed indiscriminately 

 from his own foul hay-rick, or sends to his next neighbour 

 for a supply : by this means, besides a certain mixture of all 

 sorts of rubbish, (which must necessarily happen,) if he 

 chance to have a large proportion of good seeds, it is not 

 unlikely but that what he intends for dry land may come from 

 moist, where it grew naturally; and from the contrary. This 

 is such a slovenly method of proceeding, that one can hardly 

 believe it to be universal ; yet it generally prevails with re- 

 spect to all grasses, except the Darnel-grass, and what in 

 some few counties is known by the name of Suffolk-grass ; 

 and this latter instance is owing, it is believed, more to the 

 soil than any care of the husbandman. Now, (continues he,) 

 would the farmer be at the pains of separating, once in his 

 life, half a pint or a pint of the different kinds of grass seeds, 

 and take care to sow them separately ; in a very little time 

 he would have wherewithal to stock his farm properly, ac- 

 cording to the nature of each soil, and/ might at the same 

 time spread these seeds separately over the nation, by sup- 

 plying the seed-shops." The number of grasses fit for the 

 farmer, probably does not exceed half a score : and how 

 small would be the trouble, and how great the reward, of 

 such a task ! Would not any one be looked upon as almost 

 insane, who should sow wheat, oats, rye, peas, beans, vetches, 

 buck-wheat, turnips, and seeds of all sorts, together ? Yet 

 this is perpetually done with respect to grasses, although it 

 is both unprofitable and absurd. It is also asserted by Mr. 

 Kent, that meadow and pasture land is oftener neglected 

 than ploughed land, notwithstanding it generally admits of a 

 much greater proportion of improvement. The best grasses 

 cannot be collected at too great an expense ; for he has seen 

 a small spot of land in the middle of a large piece, which 

 was laid down twelve or fourteen years since, upon an 

 estate in Hertfordshire, with some choice seeds, at the same 

 time when the remainder of the field was laid down with 

 common seeds ; and this spot is considerably better than 

 the rest. From these experiments, and his own observa- 

 tions, he is clearly of opinion, that any person who has land 

 calculated for grass, may improve it by this method of laying 

 it down, to a much greater degree than he can in the common 

 way. Dr. Anderson has likewise observed, in the second 

 volume of his Essays, that although it is probable that none of 

 the grasses that have been hitherto cultivated by the farmer, are 

 of the most proper kind for pasturage ; yet there is little reason 

 to doubt, but that many of the most valuable kinds for this 

 purpose would admit of being cultivated with the same ease 

 as some of those are with which we are well acquainted, if 

 they were properly separated from others, and cultivated with 

 equal care. But so long as we shall remain ignorant of the 

 peculiar properties of each kind of grass, so as not to be able 

 to distinguish the good from the bad, it is not surprising that 

 we should remain firmly persuaded that nature alone can pro- 

 vide valuable pastures, and that age is so essentially neces- 

 sary for bringing them to their ultimate perfection : for if we 

 allow our fields to remain uncultivated, without having sowed 

 them with any kinds of grass seeds, it must ever happen that 

 the seeds of such grasses as are brought by the wind or 

 otherwise from the neighbouring fields, will there take root, 

 and in time establish themselves. And as it may sometimes 

 happen, that some of the most valuable pasture grasses may 

 there abound ; the field, in these cases, will become filled 

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