HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 295 



Produce per Acre. 

 dr. qr. Ibs. 



Grass, 10 oz. The produce per acre - 6806 4 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry -300 ^ OKKOKQ 



The produce of the space, ditto - 60 i 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 4253 14 8 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 1 0| "> 



The produce of the space, ditto 2 2& 3 



This and the foregoing species are strictly annual plants. From 

 the above details, the nutritive powers of the herbage they pro- 

 duce is very inconsiderable. The Panicum sanguinale produces 

 much seed, of which birds are very fond, and requires to be pro- 

 tected by nets, or otherwise, during the time of ripening. The 

 smaller birds pick out the ripe seed, even when only a small 

 quantity is formed among the blossoms. Schreber informs us, 

 the seeds are not only collected from this grass, which is culti- 

 vated in some parts of Germany for the purpose, but likewise 

 from the Festuca fluitans, flote-fescue. The common method of 

 collecting and preparing them is this: At sun-rise they are 

 gathered or beaten into a hair-sieve from the dewy grass ; are 

 spread on a sheet, and dried for a fortnight in the sun ; they are 

 then gently beaten with a wooden pestle in a wooden trough or 

 mortar, with straw laid between the seeds and the pestle, till the 

 chaff comes off; they are then winnowed. After this they are 

 again put into the trough or mortar, in rows, with dried marigold 

 flowers, apple, and hazel-leaves, and pounded till they appear 

 bright ; they are then winnowed again, and, being made perfectly 

 clean by this last process, are fit for use. The marigold leaves 

 are added to give the seed a finer colour. A bushel of seed with 

 the chaff, yields only about two quarts of clean seed. When 

 boiled with milk or wine it forms an extremely palatable food, 

 and is in general made use of whole, in the manner of sago, to 

 which it is, in most instances, preferred.* Miss Jennings observes, 

 that all the stems that lie nearest the ground strike root, and by this 

 means, though an annual and short-lived plant, it increases and 

 spreads very wide in one season.f It should be sown as soon as 

 the seed is ripe in the autumn, that the young plants may have 

 sufficient strength before the winter begins; by this mode of 



* As quoted by Professor Martyn. f Withering, 



