366 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



form of chaff, this, and some other of the gigantic grasses, would 

 be profitable plants on soils unfit for the production of the superior 

 pasture grasses, or of corn. 



A comparison of the quantity of nutritive matter contained in 

 hay of the best quality with that contained in an equal weight of 

 the hay made from this grass, will shew, nearly, their comparative 

 value. 



One pound of hay composed of the best natural grasses con- 

 tains of nutritive matter 57 dr. One pound of hay composed of 

 the Elymus Philadelphicas contains of nutritive matter 34 dr. 

 With regard to nutritive powers, therefore, five tons of the hay of 

 this grass are scarcely equal to three tons of that of the superior 

 grasses. But the soil that will produce this grass, and others of 

 the same class, at the rate of six tons per acre, would not produce 

 one-fifth the quantity of the superior grasses ; consequently, the 

 adoption of the tall fescue and Philadelphian lyme-grasses, on 

 soils of this description, for the uses now described, might be 

 found a profitable measure. 



Flowers in the first and second weeks of July, and successively 

 till the end of summer. Seed ripe in about three weeks after the 

 time of flowering. 



ELYMUS striatus. Striated Lyme-grass. 



Specific character : Spike erect ; spikelets 2-flowered, fringed ; 

 involucre or calyx striated, short. Hort. Kew. i. p. 177. 



Obs. Native of North America. Root perennial ; was intro- 

 duced into this country about 1790. Ibid. Hort. Gram. 

 Fol. 263. 



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



clayey loam is 



Produce per Acre, 

 dr. qr. Ibs. 



Grass, 30 oz. The produce per acre - 20418 12 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry 35 1 ^QOQ Q n 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 210 5 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 1 1485 3 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 407 1 07 o A 

 The produce of the space, ditto - 30 5 



From these details, therefore, this species is inferior in nutritive 

 powers to the Philadelphian lyme-grass in the proportion of 17 to 

 16. It is also much later in the production of foliage in the 



