Book VI. HAY GRASSES. 88? 



that in the greater part of North America, the sorts that grow naturally on the plains 

 are almost all annuals, and consequently with the first frost they die, and the ground 

 remains naked till a fresh crop rises from the self-sown seeds next spring. Nearly the 

 same thing may be said of Poland and Russia, with the exception of the banks of rivers 

 and the mountains. 



5644. The universal presence of the forage grasses, and the rapidity with which all soils become covered 

 with them when left uncultivated, are the obvious reasons why their systematic selection and culture are 

 but of recent date. Though the Romans cultivated clovers, and were careful of their meadows, it does not 

 appear that the seeds of the proper grasses were collected and sown by them. None of the agricultural 

 writers, from Peter of Bologna to Parkinson in J64U, say a word about sowing grasses, though they all 

 mention clover and lucern. This branch of culture appears to have originated in England about the 

 middle of the seventeenth century, and the grass made choice of was the rye-grass. The first mention 

 made of it for cultivation is in Dr. Plot's OTfordsltire, printed in 1677. " They have lately sown," says he, 

 " ray grass, or the Grhmen /oliaceum, by which they improve any cold, sour, clay- weeping ground, for 

 which it is best, but good also for drier upland grounds, especially light stony or sandy land, which is unfit 

 for saintfoin. It was first sown in the Chiltern parts of Oxfordshire, and since brought nearer Oxford by 

 one Eustace, an ingenious husbandman of Islip, who, though at first laughed at, has since been followed 

 even by those very persons that scorned his experiment." The first grass tried alter rye-grass appears 

 to have been the Phleum pratense, by Rocque of Walham Green, about 1760. Soon afterwards the seed 

 of cock's-foot grass was introduced from Virginia, under the name of orchard-grass, by the Society of 

 Arts. ( Ann. Reg. 1765. 141.) ; fox-tail was tried at a later period, on the suggestions of Stillingfleet and 

 Curtis. 



5645. Stillingfleet, about 175?, drew the attention of the reading agriculturist to the selection of different 

 species of grasses ; as did Dr. Anderson about the same time, and Swayne {Gramina Pdseua) and Curtis 

 (Observations on British Grasses) soon afterwards. The origin of this attention to grasses and native 

 plants may be traced to the practice of forming local floras by botanists, and especially to the Flora Sue'cica 

 of Linnaeus; and the British Floras of Hudson, Withering, Lightfoot, Smith, &c. in which the medical 

 and economical properties of the plants were mentioned ; and, in imitation of Linnaeus, particular notice 

 taken of the animals which fed upon them. 



5646. John Duke of Bedford made the latest and most laborious efforts towards attaining a knowledge 

 of the comparative value of all the British and some foreign grasses worth cultivating. The result is given 

 in an appendix to Sir H. Davy's Agricultural Chemist))/, and more at large in Sinclair's llortus Gramineus 

 Woburnensis, 8vo. 2d edit 1825, a work which may truly be said to form an epoch in this department of 

 agriculture, and which will probably long continue to be the ground-work of all that shall continue to be 

 done in this branch of the subject, 



*5647. With respect to the general culture of grasses, though no department of agricul- 

 ture is more simple in the execution, yet, from their nature, considerable judgment is 

 required in the design. Though grasses abound in every soil and situation, yet, all the 

 species do not abound in every soil and situation indifferently. On the contrary, no 

 class of perfect plants is so absolute and unalterable in its choice in this respect. The 

 creeping-rooted and stoloniferous grasses will grow readily on most soils ; but the 

 fibrous-rooted species, and especially the more delicate upland grasses, require particular 

 attention as to the soil in which they are sown ; for in many soils they will either not 

 come up at all, or die away in a few years, and give way to the grasses which would 

 naturally spring up in such a soil when left to a state of nature. Hence, in sowing 

 down lands for permanent pasture, it is a good method to make choice of those grasses 

 which thrive best in adjoining and similarly-circumstanced pastures for a part of the 

 seed ; and to mix with these what are considered the very best kinds. 



5648. The most important feature in the culture of pasture grasses is mixture of sorts. The husband- 

 man, observes one of the most scientific agriculturists in Scotland, who clothes his fields only with r>e- 

 grass and clover, employs a limited machinery, the former being unproductive in summer, the latter 

 moderately so in spring ; but when he, for this purpose, uses a variety of plants differing in their habits 

 of growth, and periods of luxuriance, a numerous and powerful machinery is kept successively in full 

 operation. (Quar. Jour. Ag. vol. ii. p. 247.) 



5649. The effect of a mixture of grasses maybe accounted for from some species putting forth their 

 foliage, and reaching a maximum of produce at different periods from other kinds. From some being 

 gregarious or social, and others solitary and never producing a close turf; by sowing seeds of several 

 species together, which are dissimilar in their habits of growth, and arrive at a maximum of produce at 

 different periods of summer and autumn, there is secured throughout the season a succession of fresh 

 herbage, rendered, by the erect and creeping foliage of the different species, so dense and abundant 

 as greatly to surpass in quantity that obtained from the cultivation of two or three kinds only. 

 {Ibid. p. 246.) 



5650. New and excellent varieties of many of the grasses, especially those used or fit 

 to be used in the convertible husbandry, might no doubt be obtained by selection and 

 cross-breeding, and it is much to be wished that this were attempted by cultivators. 



5651. The grasses to be here treated of may be classed as tall sorts, or those best fitted 

 for hay ; and dwarf grasses, or those fit only for pasturage : those experimented on at 

 Woburn will next be noticed. 



Sect. 1. Tall-growing or Hoy Grasses. 



5652. The hay grasses for the purposes of agriculture may be advantageously divided 

 into those of temporary, and those of permanent duration. 



Subsect. 1. Tall or Hay Grasses of temporary Duration. 



*5C53. The most valuable of this division are the biennial, or, as it is commonly but 

 enonecusly called, the annual, perennial, and subperennial rye-grass 'fg. 769. a), the 



3 L 4 



