372 HOllTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



glaucous ; culms finely striated, smooth, almost solid ; leaves 

 narrow, rigid, sharp-pointed ; stipula lanceolate, pointed, near 

 an inch long, mostly divided or torn. See Engl. Fl. i. p. 172 ; 

 E. Bot. 520; Fl. Ger. 221, t. 5, fig. 2. 



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

 siliceous sandy soil is 



Grass, 16 oz. The produce per acre 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry 



The produce of the space, ditto 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 



The produce of the space, ditto 16 



The nutritive matter of this grass affords a large portion of sac- 

 charine matter when compared with the produce, in this respect, 

 of other grasses : the Elymus arenarius, however, affords about one- 

 third more sugar than the present plant. The quantity of nutritive 

 matter afforded by the Elymus arenarius is superior to that afforded 

 by the Arundo arenaria, in the proportion of 4 to 5. 



The above details of produce shew that the Arundo arenaria is 

 unworthy of cultivation as food for cattle, out of the influence of 

 the salt spray. But the habit of the plant in its natural place of 

 growth, the loose sands of the sea-coast, is of great utility, par- 

 ticularly when combined with the Elymus arenarius (as was before 

 observed when speaking of that species), in binding the sands of 

 the sea-shore, and thereby raising a natural barrier the most 

 lasting against the encroachments of the ocean upon the land. 

 So far back as the reign of William III., the important value of 

 the Elymus arenarius and Arundo arenaria was so well appreciated 

 as to induce the Scottish Parliament of that period to pass an act 

 for their preservation on the sea-coasts of Scotland.* And these 

 provisions were, by the British Parliament, in the reign of 

 George II., followed up by further enactments, extending the 

 operation of the Scottish law to the coasts of England, and im- 

 posing further penalties for its inviolability ; so that it was ren- 



* Communicated by my ingenious friend Mr. Bringloe, of Edinburgh : and for 

 the perusal of the Act of the British Parliament which contains a clause respecting 

 these grasses, I am indebted to W. P. Taunton, Esq. 



