HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 263 



declines till the seventh or eighth, when it becomes so thin and 

 diminutive as hardly to amount to one-sixth of the above : this 

 is the case with creeping roots in general ; but, though they im- 

 poverish thus the soil for their own maintenance, nevertheless 

 the fibrous-rooted species succeed well when planted on the 

 ground so impoverished by the creeping-roots of the Festuca 

 rubra : the nutritive matter of the creeping-roots consists almost 

 entirely of mucilage, while the greater proportion of the nutritive 

 matters of the fibrous species (F. duriuscula, F. Cambrica, and 

 F. glabra) consists of saccharine and bitter extractive matters. 



I found this species, last summer, growing in the sands, within 

 high-water mark, on the coast near Skegness ; the roots penetrated 

 deeply into the loose sand, and the culms, in some instances, 

 were nearly two feet high. Plants brought from these sands were 

 planted in the grass-garden, where they grew not more luxuri- 

 antly, although planted in heath soil ; but the colour of the foliage 

 appeared more healthy, being of a deeper green colour. 



Flowers in the third week of June, and ripens the seed in the 

 second week of July. 



FESTUCA dumetorum. Pubescent Wood-fescue. 



Specific character : Panicle branches pointing in many direc- 

 tions ; spikelets pubescent ; leaves thread-shaped. Wither. 

 Arr. ii. p. 154 ; Flo. Dan. 700.? 



Obs. Spikelets straddling, some pointing upwards, some 

 slanting, some nearly horizontal. (Wither.) The whole 

 plant is of a light glaucous colour, the spikelets nearly white 

 with the numerous fine hairs that clothe them. Culms 

 slanting ; leaves long, slender, and pointing downwards. The 

 peculiar pubescence of the spikelets, and the distorted figure 

 of the panicle, which remains unaltered from seed, particularly 

 distinguishes this species from the hard, smooth, Welsh, and 

 creeping fescues. 



German, Hartlicher-Schwingel. 



Native of Britain. Root perennial, slightly creeping. 



Experiments. At the time of flowering, the produce from a 

 rich black, sandy soil, incumbent on clay, is 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. Ibs. 



Grass, 16 oz. The produce per acre - - 10890 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry 40 ) 5445 Q Q 



The produce of the space, ditto - 128 i 



