HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 321 



This grass is not common ; it is found in a wild state near 

 Sandwich, and in the Isle of Jersey, on a sandy soil. It is also a 

 native of Germany, growing in pastures, corn-fields, and on sands 

 by the sea-side. Like the preceding grass, this one is evidently 

 of more use in shewing the diversity of form that gives specific 

 characters to the individuals composing a genera, than to any 

 agricultural purpose to which it can be made subservient ; as the 

 above results of experiments made upon it put every idea of that 

 nature out of the question. 



It is a common observation, that different plants affect peculiar 

 soils ; or it may, perhaps, be said, that every different soil pro- 

 duces plants peculiar to itself. When soils are first formed from 

 the decomposition of rocks, mosses are generally the first vege- 

 tables they produce ; afterwards grasses. Nature appears ever un- 

 remitting in her efforts to cover every description of soil with 

 grass. And the varieties of soils, whether caused by a difference 

 of internal composition, or of local situation, from the Alps to the 

 low-lying marsh, are very numerous ; and the number of species 

 and varieties of grass adapted to clothe them proportionally great. 

 There are some species of grass that attain but to one or two inches 

 in height, others many feet, according as the soil has richness suf- 

 ficient for their maintenance and production. These diminutive, 

 and, to the Agriculturist, seemingly useless plants, by the yearly 

 death and decay of their leaves and culms, or of the plant itself, if 

 an annual, and by attracting animals to the spot, prepare the soil 

 for the future production of superior grasses. Though a grass 

 therefore may be, comparatively, of no value for the immediate 

 uses of the Farmer, nevertheless, it is not, surely, unworthy of his 

 regard ; for independent of the pleasure which a consideration of 

 its peculiar structure, design, uses, and connexion with others of 

 known value must excite, a knowledge of the plant will also direct 

 whether to encourage or prevent its growth in such situations 

 where it is found. Few grasses will thrive or continue in any soil 

 but that which naturally produces them. The present grass was 

 found by Villars, on a rock, where it did not exceed three 

 inches in height ; and also in corn-fields, where it attains to a 

 considerable height. This is more general with the annual than 

 the perennial grasses. The Cynosurus echinatus is strictly an- 

 nual. 



Flowers about the end of June, and the seed is ripe in 

 August. 



