1847.] The Grasses. 37 



each successive day, practicing a regular rotation. Every farmer 

 who has sown much clover and timothy, (Phleum pratense,) must 

 have observed in pasturing land thus seeded, that the sides of" the 

 fences and spots occupied by other grass, (no matter what kind,) 

 are always grazed closer than the rest ol' the field. We have often 

 noticed it whether the land was pastured by cattle, horses or sheep, 

 and this shows plainly that they crave a variety. Sheep desire 

 a greater variety of food than any other domestic animal. To 

 prove this, the experiment of Linneus has often been cited. He 

 found that horses ate two hundred and sixty-two species of plants, 

 and refused two hundred and twelve of those which he presented. 

 Cattle ate two hundred and seventy-six species, refusing two hun- 

 dred and eighteen. Sheep partook of three hundred and eighty- 

 seven species, refusing to eat only one hundred and forty-one. 



Some grasses afford early pasturage, while others continue good 

 until they are covered with snow in the winter, being little af- 

 fected by frost in the fall. By paying particular attention to the 

 cultivation of these varieties, the time of foddering may be les- 

 sened from two weeks to a month during the year. This is true 

 with regard to those who depend much on the clover for pasture. 

 We would earnestly recommend to our brother farmers, the culti- 

 vation of at least five or six species of grass, and it may be that 

 they have suitable species growing in a wild state on their own 

 farms; if so, they can easily select a few seeds of each kind, and 

 sow them separately, and thus in a short time they can raise seed 

 in suflficient quantity to seed down entire fields, and experiment 

 on each kind separately, or mix them for pasturage. 



The experiments of Mr. Sinclair, gardener at Woburn, the re- 

 sidence of the Duke of Bedford, called the " W^oburn experiments" 

 which were instituted to determine the relative value of the dif- 

 ferent grasses in a dry state, are quoted and much reliance placed 

 upon them, in nearly every treatise upon the grasses. 



" This method was to boil in water equal weights of each spe- 

 cies of hay, till every thing soluble was taken up, and to evapo- 

 rate the solution to dryness. The weights of the dry matter thus 

 obtained, he considered to represent the nutritive values of the 

 grasses from which the several samples of hay were made." But 

 according to Johnston, fiom whose chemistry the above extract is 

 taken, " the results of Mr. Sinclair's experiments have lost much 

 of their value since it has been satisfactorily ascertained, 



1st. That the proportion of soluble matter yielded by any spe- 

 cies of grass, when made into hay varies not only with the age 

 of the grass when cut, but with the soil, the climate, the season, 

 the rapidity of growth, the variety of seed sown, and with many 

 other circumstances which are not susceptible of constant variation. 



2d. That animals have the power of digesting a greater or less 



