AGROSTIS. 



AGROSTIS. 



be likewise found on the productive powers, 

 uses, modes of cultivation, &c., of this grass, 

 deduced from the Doctor's own experiments. 



Agrostis strida. Rock bent; upright bent. 

 Trichodium rupestrt (Schrader). This species 

 being inferior to the common bent in most 

 points, its value to the agriculturist can be but 

 little. The only property that renders it worthy 

 of notice is, the small degree in which it im- 

 poverishes the soil : when cultivated on a poor, 

 silicious, sandy soil, the produce, though some- 

 what inferior, continued for six years, without 

 diminishing in the yearly quantity, and without 

 any manure being applied ; a circumstance 

 which was not manifested in any other species 

 of grass. 



Agrostis vulgarly canina. Awned fine bent. 

 (Urown bent, or Agrostis cariina, Wither. 

 Arr. Smith's Engl. Flora. Agrostis vulgaris 

 var. yg. Do. var. 1.) As this is a much less 

 common plant than the variety of- Agrostis 

 vulgaris before described, and as it differs so 

 much from that variety in the properties which 

 constitute the farmer's distinguishing charac- 

 ters of grasses, the name can ma is here added. 

 The vulgar is mnticu is more common to sandy 

 soils ; the v. caninn to clayev soils. The weight 

 of nutritive matter in which the produce of 

 one acre of the awnlrss variety of Agrostis 

 vu/garis canina exceeds that of the a\m-d va- 

 riety is lf> 1.x. The comparative merits of the 

 Aifrustis vulgaris exceed those of the Agrostis 

 vulgaris cunina nearly as 2 to 1. The crop of 

 tin- a \vnless variety is greater than that of the 

 awned, but it is much less nutritive, being as 

 10 to 7; the spring and autumn produce is 



likewise superior. Neither of these varieties 

 appears to be of much value to the farmer. 

 The rust attacks the culms arid leaves of both 

 varieties, which gives the plants a dirty brown 

 appearance ; the Agrostis vulgaris is always 

 free from this disease. The brown bent 

 flowers in the second and third weeks of July, 

 and ripens the seed in the end of August. 



Agrostis vulgar is mutica. Common bent; fine 

 bent grass. [See Plate 6, d, of Hay Grasses.] 

 This species has four varieties, according to 

 Dr. Schrader. The first is distinguished by 

 being awned (see Agrostis vulgaris canina, and 

 Trichodium caninum) ; the second by awnless 

 and diseased flowers (see Agrostis pumila of 

 Willd. Spec. Plant, i. p. 371) ; the third by its 

 diseased awned flowers ; the fourth, by having 

 the flowers viviparous, Agrostis sylvatica. 



The common bent is one of the earliest of 

 the bent grasses ; in this respect it is superior 

 to every other of this family ; but inferior to 

 several of them in the quantity of produce it 

 affords, and the nutritive matter it consumes. 

 It is the most common grass on natural 

 sandy pastures; and even on more tenaceous 

 soils, thai are elevated and exposed, it is fre- 

 quent. It flowers from the third week of June 

 till the second week of July, and the seed is 

 ripe the beginning of August. 



The following tabular arrangement shows 

 at a glance the proportional value of the seve- 

 ral varieties of Agrostis, in seed and in flower, 

 and their yield per acre of green arid dry pro- 

 duce on various soils, and comparative quali- 

 ties of nutrition. 



This family of grasses has been held in little 

 esteem by farmers, principally on account of 

 their lateness of flowering. (Sinclair's Hart. 

 Gram. ; Smith's Eng. Hot.) 



[Several of the species thus enumerated, as 

 existing in England, have found their way to 

 America, doubtless introduced mixed in grain 

 and grass seeds. They are, however, so dry 

 and wiry as to be esteemed of little or no 



value to the farmer, Among these are, the 

 A. vulgaris, which Pursh, the celebrated 

 botanist, says, is common in all grassy fields, 

 flowering in July. This is doubtless the 

 species which gives name to the genera, de- 

 rived from Agros, a Greek word signifying a 

 field. Dr. Darlington says it is the grass ex- 

 ; tensively known in the Middle States as Herds 

 i or Red-top, and sometimes in the Eastern States 



