892 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III; 



straws simply, therefore, cxreed those of the leaves, in the proportion of 28 to 8 ; the nutritive powers ol 

 the grass, at the time of (lowering, exceed those of the grass at the time the seed is ripe, in the proportion 

 of 10 to 23 ; and the nutritive powers of the lattermath, .those of the grass of the flowering crop, in the 

 proportion of .S to 10. The comparative merits of this grass will, from the above particulars, appear to 

 be very great ; to which may be added the abundance of fine foliage that it produces early in the spring. 

 In this respect it is inferior to /'6a IVrtilis and /'6a angustifulia only. The value of the straws at the time 

 the seed is ripe, exceeds that of the grass at the time of flowering, in the proportion of 28 to 10, a circum- 

 stance which raises it above many Others ; for from this property its valuable early foliage may be depas- 

 tured to an advanced period Of the season, without injury to the crop of hay, treatment which in grasses 

 that send forth their flowering straws early in the season would cause a loss of nearly one half in the value 

 of the crop, as clearly proved by former examples; and this property of the straws makes the plant 

 peculiarly desirable for hay. In moist and peaty soils it has in various instances been found highly 

 productive. 



568:5. Tlie floating fescue grass, Festilca fluitans !b), is found in rich swamps, especially 

 in Cambridgeshire! where it is said to give the peculiar flavour to Cottenham and 

 Cheddar cheese. It is also found in ditches and ponds in most parts of the country. 



5684. It is greedily devoured by every description of stock, not excepting hogs and ducks, and geese 

 ( igei ly devour the seeds, which are small, but very sweet and nourishing. They are collected in several 

 put- of Germany and Poland, under the name of manna-seeds (schwaden), and are esteemed a delicacy 

 in soups and gruels. When ground to meal, they make bread very little inferior to that from wheat. The 

 bran is given to horses that have the worms ; but they must be kept from water for some hours afterwards, 

 (ieese, and other water-fowl, are very fond of the seeds. So also are fish ; trout, in particular, thrive in 

 those rivers where this grass grows in plenty. It has been recommended to be sowed on meadows that 

 admit flooding; but Curtis justly remarks, that the flote-fescue will not flourish except in land that is 

 constantly under water, or converted into a bog or swamp. 



5685. The water vieadow grass (Poa aquatica, c) is found chiefly in marshes, but will 



grow on strong clays, and yield, as the Woburn experiments prove, a prodigious produce, 



flowering from June to September. It is one of the largest of our grasses. 



5686. In the fens of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, &c, immense tracts, that used to be overflowed and 

 to produce useless aquatic plants, and which, though drained by mills, still retain much moisture, are 

 covered with this grass, which not only affords rich pasturage in summer, but forms the chief part of the 

 winter fodder. It has a powerfully creeping root; and bears frequent mowing well. It is sometimes cut 

 thrice in one season near the Thames. It grows not only in very moist ground, but in the water itself; 

 and with cat's-tail, burr-reed, &c, soon fills up ditches, and occasions them to require frequent cleansing. 

 In this respect it is a formidable plant, even in slow rivers. In the Isle of Ely they cleanse these by an 

 instrument called a bear, which is an iron roller, with a number of pieces of iron, like small spades, fixed 

 to it; this is drawn up and down the river by horses walking along the bank, and tears up the plants by 

 the roots, which float, and are carried down the stream. The grass was, however, cultivated at Woburn 

 on a strong tenacious clay, and yielded considerable produce. 



5687. The florin grass (^grostis stolonifera, d) is a very common grass both in wet 



and dry, rich and poor situations. Few plants appear to be more under the influence of 



local circumstances than this grass. On dry soils it is worth nothing ; but on rich marl 



soils, and in a moist soil, if we may put confidence in the accounts given of its produce 



in Ireland, it is the most valuable of all herbage plants. 



5688. It teas first brought into notice by Dr. Richardson in 1809, and subsequently extolled, and its 

 culture detailed in various pamphlets by the same gentleman. It appears to be exclusively adapted for 

 moist peat soils or bogs. In The Code of Agriculture it is said, "On mere bogs, the florin yields a great 

 weight of herbage, and is, perhaps, the most useful plant that bogs can produce." According to Sir H. 

 Davy, the florin grass, to be in perfection, requires a moist climate or a wet soil ; and it grows luxuriantly 

 in cold clays unfitted for other grasses. In light sands, and in dry situations, its produce is much inferior 

 as to quantity and quality. He saw four square yardsof fiorin grass cut in the end of January, in a meadow 

 exclusively appropriated to the cultivation of fiorin by the Countess of Hardwicke, the soil of which is a 

 damp stiff clay. They afforded twenty-eight pounds of fodder, of which one thousand parts afforded sixty- 

 four parts of nutritive matter, consisting nearly of one sixth of sugar, and five sixths of mucilage, with a 

 little extractive matter. In another experiment, four square yards gave twenty.seven pounds of grass. 

 Lady Hardwicke has given an account of a trial of this grass; wherein twenty-three milch cows, and one 

 young horse, besides a number of pigs, were kept a fortnight on the produce of one acre. On the Dukeof 

 Bedford's farm, at Maulden, florin hay was placed in the racks before horses, in small distinct quantities, 

 alternately with common hay ; but no decided preference for either was manifested by the horses in this 

 trial. Fiorin has been tried in the highlands of Scotland, and a premium awarded in 1821 for a field of 

 three acres planted on land previously worth very little, at Appin, in Argyleshire. (Highl. Soc. Trans. 

 vol. vi. p. 229.) Hay-tea has also been made from tiorin, and found useful in rearing calves, being mixed 

 with oatmeal and skimmed milk. (Ibid. p. 233.) 



5689. There are other species of Agrdstis, as the A. palustris and repens, and some varieties of the A. 

 stolonifera, that on common soils are little different in their appearance and properties from fiorin. On 

 one of these, the narrow-leaved creeping-bent (A. stolonifera var. angustifolia), the following remarks are 

 made in the account of the Woburn experiments. " From a careful examination of the creeping-bent 

 with narrow leaves, it will doubtless appear to possess merits well worthy of attention, though perhaps not 

 so great as they have been .supposed, if the natural place of its growth and habits be impartially taken into 

 the account. From the couchant nature of this grass, it is denominated couch-grass, by practical men ; 

 and from the length of time that it retains the vital power, after being taken out of the soil, it is called 

 squitch, quick, full of life," ,\r, 



56 the culture of fiorin is different from that of other grasses. Though the plant will ripen its seeds 

 on a dry soil, and these seeds being very small, a few pounds would be sufficient for an acre, yet it is gene- 

 rally propagated by etolones or root-shoots. The ground being well pulverised, freed from weeds, and laid 

 into BUch beds or ridges as the cultivator may think advisable ; small drills an inch or two deep, and six 

 or nine inches asunder, are to be drawn along its surface, with a hand or horse-hoe, or on soft iands with 

 the hoe-rake. In the bottom of these drills, the fiorin shoots (whether long or short is of no consequence) 

 are laid lengthways, so that their ends may touch each other, and then lightly covered with a rake, and 

 the surface rolled to render it fit for the scythe. In six months the whole surface will be covered with 

 verdure, and if the planting be performed early in spring, a large crop may be had in the following autumn. 

 Any season will answer for planting, but one likely to be followed by showers and heat is to be preferred. 

 Those who wish to cultivate this grass will consult Dr. Richardson's Nino Essay on Fiorin Grass (1813), 

 and also The Farmer's Magazine for 1810-14. Our opinion is, that neither florin, Timothy, nor floating 

 fescue, is ever likely to be cultivated in Britain ; though the latter two may perhaps succeed well on the 

 bogs and moist rich soils of Ireland, where, to second the influence oftho sod, there is a moist warm 

 climate. 



