356 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



is summer, but forms the chief part of their winter fodder. Its 

 powerful creeping roots make i't a dangerous and troublesome 

 plant in ditches, where, with other aquatic plants, it soon chokes 

 them up. In the Isle of Ely they cleanse the ditches of these 

 weeds by an instrument called a bear ; which is an iron roller, 

 with a number of pieces of iron, like small spades, fixed in it. 

 This is drawn up and down the river by horses walking along the 

 bank, and tears up the plants by the roots, which float, and are 

 carried down the stream. In the Bath Agricultural Papers, the 

 water meadow-grass, we are informed, " in its native soil, the fens 

 of the Isle of Ely, grows to the height of six feet. It is usually 

 cut when about four feet high ; when dry they bind it in sheaves; 

 it generally undergoes a heat in the rick, which improves it. It 

 is excellent fodder for milch-cows ; horses are not fond of it. 

 The inhabitants there call it fodder, by way of eminence, other 

 kinds of coarse hay being, called stover, i. e. coarse stuff. It is 

 also called white lead, drying of a white colour." 



The nutritive matter of this grass contains a greater proportion 

 of sugar than exists in any of the superior pasture grasses. I 

 offered a bundle of the grass to a horse that was grazing on a field 

 of white clover ; the animal ate it with seeming relish, taking a 

 bite of the clover, and then another of the Poa aquatica, alter- 

 nately, till the whole of it was consumed. It does not grow freely 

 from seed, .except when sown in mud. The best manner of pro- 

 pagating it, according to my experience, is by planting the roots, 

 which, from their creeping nature, soon increase the number of 

 plants. The best season for sowing the seeds is in the autumn, 

 as soon as they are ripe. The roots may be planted in the 

 autumn, or spring, with equal success. The Rev. Bartholomew 

 Dacre, of Moseley, has made several experiments on this grass ; 

 and the results prove, that it may be cultivated on more elevated 

 situations than has been supposed, and that propagating it by 

 planting the roots is the best mode. 



Flowers about the second and third weeks of July, and the seed 

 is ripe about the second week of August. 



ER IOPH OR UM angust ifolium. Long-leaved Cotton-grass. 

 Specific character : Culms almost three-cornered ; leaves chan- 

 nelled, three-sided ; fruit-stalks smooth. E. Bot. 564 ; Flo. 

 Germ. 

 Obs. There are three species of cotton-grass, which greatly 



