426 



HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



Poa nemoralis angmtifolia, narrow-leaved wood meadow-grass, 

 p. 182. Straw very equal, fine, and tough, but not so long 

 between the joints as some others. 



Agrostis stolonifera aristata, awned stoloniferous bent, p. 345. 

 straw long, equal, and bleaches very white, but works rather 

 soft and flat in the plait. There are many other species of the 

 perennial grasses which afford fine culms, and which might be 

 added to the above list; but the above species have been submitted 

 to careful trials, and found to possess the valuable properties 

 stated. Any number of these species of grasses which come into 

 flower at the same period, and which affect similar soils, might 

 with advantage be sown together for the reasons already men- 

 tioned at p. 38. There is scarcely a fibrous-rooted species of 

 grass that can be cultivated singly without much time and atten- 

 tion, and consequently expense, in weeding or keeping out other 

 grasses from combining with it in the soil : whereas, by sowing 

 a mixture of those species which in common possess the proper- 

 ties above mentioned, they will keep possession of the soil, and 

 render weeding almost unnecessary ; and after the crop of straws 

 is taken, the grass or sward will be found more nutritious and 

 productive for depasturing with sheep than if it consisted of one 

 species of grass only. 



The results of all the experiments made here prove, that the 

 period of flowering, or at the time the grass is in full flower, or 

 when the blossom is about decaying, is the best stage of growth 

 at which to cut the culms or straw, for the purposes of Leghorn 

 plait.* 



* On examining the straw of the Leghorn plait, it exhibits a bland surface com- 

 pared to the glossy shining surface of an English bonnet manufactured of the 

 ripened straw of oats, &c. On comparing the appearance, in this respect, of the 

 culms of grasses cut when in flower, with others cut at the time the seed is ripe, and 

 after they have respectively been bleached, the former have a bland surface like to the 

 Leghorn plait, and the latter a glossy shining surface similar to the English bonnet 

 made of the split straw of ripened grain. The culms at the flowering stage of 

 growth are also less hollow, have more substance, are more tough and pliable than 

 ripened culms, and in this point also resemble more the Leghorn straw. It is 

 perhaps too well known to mention here, that the shining glossy surface of ripened 

 straw arises from the silica or pure earth of flints, which enters into the composition 

 of the culms of the gramina ; a wise provision of nature to give strength and stability 

 to stems of such slender structure for the support of the ripened seed or grain. As 

 the period of ripening the seed advances, this polish of the surface of the culm 

 increases. From these facts it seems probable that the Italian straw is taken when 

 the plants are in flower. 



