AND OTHER FOE AGE PLANTS. 81 



For green soiling it may be cut four or five times with favor- 

 able seasons. In from six to ten days after blooming the seeds 

 begin to ripen and fall, the upper ones first. It is therefore a 

 little troublesome to save the seed. As soon as those at the top 

 of the panicle ripen sufficiently to begin to drop, the heads 

 should be cut off and dried, when the seeds will all thresh out 

 readily and be matured. After the seeds are riye and taken off 

 the long abundant leaves and stems are still green 

 and, being mowed make good hay. 



It may be sown in March or April and mowed the same season ; 

 but for heavier yield it is better to sow in September or Octo- 

 ber. Along the more southerly belt from the^ 31 parallel 

 southward it may be sown in November and onward till the 

 middle of December. Whenever sown it is one of the most cer- 

 tain grasses to have a good catch. ISfot less than 2 bushels (14 

 pounds) per acre should be sown. Like timothy, on inhospi- 

 table soils, the root may sometimes become bulbous. The aver- 

 age annual nutrition yielded by this grass in the southern belt 

 is probably twice as great as in Pennsylvania and other north- 

 ern States. 



HOLCTJS. 



1. H. LANATUS, Velvet Grass, Meadow Soft Grass. 



In the eastefn States this grass is called Salem Grass and 

 White Timothy ; in the south Velvet Lawn Grass and Velvet 

 Mesquit Grass; in England Woolly Soft Grass and Yorkshire 

 White; on the continent it has three French, two German, one 

 each Dutch, Danish and Sweedish names. Yet it has been sent 

 to me for name, from many places in many States and more fre- 

 quently than any other grass. Having found its way to Texas, 

 how long ago would perhaps be difficult to ascertain, people go- 

 ing there from the older States have sent back seeds to their 

 friends calling it Texas Velvet Mesquit Grass, supposing that it 

 is a native of that State. So far as has come to my knowledge 

 nine-tenths of all the so called Mesquit grass planted in the 

 southern States is this same European Velvet Grass. 



This grass is so beautiful and different from all others as to 

 arrest the prompt attention of the most listless person. It 

 grows much larger in some of the southern States than in the 

 eastern or in England; and it seems too, to be more valuable 

 here. It grows two to four feet high here with compound pani- 

 cle variously tinted-frosty, pale, greenish, pinkish, reddish etc. 

 The leaves, sheaths and joints are covered with soft downy 

 hairs, giving the plant the touch and appearance of the softest 

 velvet. With a moderate magnifying power it will be seen 

 that the stem, sheaths, leaves and branches of the panicle are 

 marked by longitudinal striae, green and white, the latter being 



