SSK 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Pari III, 



cock's-foot grass(o), and woolly soft grass(c). 



Where a crop ot" liay is desired within the 



"fy& year, it is necessary to resort to such grasses 



'r'tty as are annuals in the strict sense of the word ; 



»jw? and none can he hetter for this purpose than 



the common oat f^vena sativa), cut and 



made into hay when it comes into flower. 



Next in order may be mentioned the other 



cereal grasses and the annual varieties of 



//roinus : the latter, however, are very coarse 



grasses, though prolific in culm. 



5654. The biennial rye-grass (Zolium 

 per^nne var. bienne L.) is well known, as 

 being universally sown, either with or with- 

 out clover, among corn crops, with a view 

 to one crop of hay in the succeeding season. 

 It attains a greater height, and produces a longer broader spike of flowers, than the 

 perennial rye-grass, and the produce in hay is considered greater than that of any other 

 annual grass, equally palatable to cattle. It prefers a rich loamy soil, but will grow on 

 any surface whatever, not rock or undecayed bog. 



*565o. The perennial ri/e-grass (Lolium per^nne L. Ivraie vivace, Fr. ; Daurende 

 Lolche, Ger. ; and Loglio vivace, Ital.) differs from the other in being of somewhat 

 smaller growth, and in abiding for several years, according to the variety and the soil 

 and culture. 



•5656. Matty consider this grass coarse, benty, and very exhausting to the soil ; but, after all the experi- 

 merits that have been made on the other grasses, none have been found to equal it for a course of mowing 

 and pasturing for two, three, or seven years. It is sown in Italy, and especially in Lombardy, and also in 

 France and Germany, along with clover, for the same purposes as in this country; and, as v n Thaer has 

 remarked, though some have tried other species, both in these countries and in England, they have in the 

 end returned to rye-grass. When intended as a pasture-grass, if stocked hard, and when for hay, if mown 

 early, the objections to it are removed. {Code of Agriculture.) G. Sinclair says the circumstance of its 

 producing abundance of seed, which is easily collected, and vegetates freely on any soil, its early perfection 

 and abundant herbage the first year, which is much relished by cattle, are the merits which have upheld 

 it to the present day, and will probably for some time to come continue it a favourite grass among farmers. 

 But the lattermath'is inconsiderable, the plant impo' wishes the soil in a high degree if not cut before the 

 seed ripens. When this is neglected, the field after midsummer exhibits only a brown surface of withered 

 straws. Let the produce and nutritive powers of rye-grass be compared with those of the cock's-foot 

 grass, and it will be found inferior nearly in the proportion of 5 to 18 ; to meadow fox-tail of j to 12 ; and 

 to meadow fescue of 5 to 17. (Horf. Gram. Wob. 2d edit 215. and see \ Stirf-'.) In a subsequent page he 

 observes, " The new varieties, however, of this species of grass, which have been discovered of late years, 

 remove in a considerable degree the serious objections which applied to the common rye-grass." {lb. 412.) 

 The varieties alluded to are all perennial, and as under : 



of Acre House, Lincolnshire, an eminent cultivator of the 

 pasture grasses, who, in 18y3, had GO varieties of Solium 

 perenne under experiment. 



Stickney't rye-g rnss, introdrcerl by Stickney of rToldemess. 



Russell's rye grass, first cult valed bv the late B. Holditt h, 

 Esq., editor'of The Farmer's Journal, from seed obtained of a 

 plant in a rich fen pasture, pointed out to Holditch by the 

 Duke of Bedford. 



Church Itcunet, or Church bent-grass, an excellent variety of 

 ryegrass, cultivated in some parts of Berkshire. 



Pacev's and Russell's are considered 



Steruter rt/e grass, common in dry impoverish d pasture land. 



Comj outul ur broad spiked rye-grass, found in rich soils, long 

 Under trrass, and chiefly in beaten parts, as cart-wavs, &c. It 

 hi- i li.irl Itroad spik", crowded with spikelets at the top. 



* ryegrass, found in rich meadow lands, and intro- 

 dnced by Pacey, a cultivator in the uplands o* Staffordshire: 

 spike nearly upright, spikelets shorter than in the compound 

 r\i-grass, the stem furnished with long leaves, and the root 

 leaves large and numerous. Sinclair considers this the most 

 raluable variety of the rye grass. 



Whitwortk's rye. grass, introduced by G. Whitworth, Esq., 



All the above, except the first two, are excellent varieties, 

 the best. 



5657. The proportional value which the grass at the time of flowering bears to the grass at the time the 

 sicd is ripe, is as 10 to 11. The proportional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to the grass at 

 the time of flowering, is as 4 to 10 ; and to grass at the time the seed is ripe, as 4 to 11. 



5658. The seed of perennial rye-grass is not to be distinguished from that of the annual variety. It may 

 be collected by hand, in most parts of Britain, from old pastures, and a considerable quantity is annually 

 so procured in Kent anil Sussex. It is also grown purposely for seed in England and Scotland. Formerly 

 it was the practice for fanners to collect the seed which dropped from the hay used by their horses ; but 

 rye-grass, grown for hay, is now cut, by all judicious farmers, when it is just coming into flower ; and there- 

 fore to collect the glumes or empty husks can be of no use as seed. It has also been a common practice, 

 in regard to rye grass, to let the mixed crop of that and clover stand till the seeds of the former have 

 attained a considerable degree of ripeness, when it is cut down and made into hay, in the usual manner; 

 ami the seeds of the rye-grass are separated by the use of the flail, commonly before the hay is put inti 

 the field. ricks. Sometimes, when but a small quantity is wanted, the hay is merely shaken well upon a 

 cloth, when it is building in the stack-yard; or afterwards in the stable. loft, before it is put into the 

 horse's racks. But in all of these methods, in order to obtain good seed, the clover must remain uncut 

 beyond the proper season ; and it is thus materially injured in quality, while the value of the rye-grass 

 seed, in such a crop, is merely a secondary consideration. 



5659. When seed is the principal object of the culture of ryegrass, it ought not to be mixed with clover at 

 all, though it may be sown along with any of the kinds of corn, and treated the year alter in every respect 

 as a crop of corn ; bound up in sheaves, built in stacks, threshed with the Hail, and dressed by the win- 

 nowing-machine in the same manner. 



The difficulty of distinguishing between the annual and perennial varieties qf rye-grass has led to 

 the practice, in some places, of cutting or pasturing the first year's crop, and taking a crop for seed the 

 second year. If the growth of the rye-grass plants be close anil vigorous the second year, there is reason 

 to be satisfied that the seed is of the perennial variety ; and though retl clover was sown with tt e rye-grass, 

 a great part of it disappears by that time, and I'm ma but a small portion of the second year's cutting. {Sup. 

 Eneyc. Brit. art. Agr.) 



