ON THE BEST TIME FOR HAY HARVEST. 317 



one g-ood plant perliaps forty may be propag-ated in one 

 season, if taken early in tlie year, as tlie oii'sets soon become 

 strong-, and afford young- pl-ants in their turns ; neither have 

 I any reason to doubt its suitableness for inland situations. 

 Mr. George, g-ardener at Clonbrenny, county Meath — who, 

 for intellig-ence and knowledg-e of his profession, is sur|)assed 

 by A'Cry few in his line — informs me that the sing'le plant he 

 raised is now g-rowing- most vigorously, and producing- plenty 

 of young- shoots. He further states that he is cultivating- it 

 in well-manured, rich, loamy soil, mixed with sand. The 

 strong-est plant we have is g-rowing- in peat and sand, where 

 it was weak xmtil I had it well supplied with liquid manure, 

 which it appears to relish, from the g-reat prog-ress it has 

 made within the last four weeks. The leaves are now fully a 

 foot long-, and nearly half an inch broad. The indig-enous 

 g-rass to which the tussac g-rass bears the g-reatest resem- 

 blance is the cock's-foot {Dactylh glome rutii), both in the 

 foliage and manner of gromng- in tufts. I allude to the 

 young' plants as they now appear, which of course will alter 

 very considerably as they advance towards perfection. 



D. Moore. 



Roi/al Dublin Society's Botanic Garden, Glasnevin. _^ 



Art. LXXV.— a FEW HINTS ON THE BEST TIME FOR 

 HAY HARVEST. 



By O. Whistlecraft, Author of the " Climate of England." 



Many formers complain that they are never lucky with their 

 hay ; and if they begin to mow between the 22nd and 30th 

 of June, they seldom, indeed, can be fortunate in harvesting- 

 it. The best time, /. e. the safest, is between the 11th and 

 21st, which, five years out of six, will be fine, and never was 

 a rainy period. Why ? Because it is the lulling- time be- 

 fore the (juarterly storm period ; and hence it is that those 

 who cut after the 21st expose themselves to storm. In the 

 finest summers, a storm will come about June 23rd ; a turn 

 of wind occurs, and a temporary chang-e, on account of its 

 being- one of the four critical positions of the sun and earth ; 

 so that when, in March and September, the sun becomes 

 apparently half way between extremes, or when, in June and 



