ALOPECURUS. 



ALOPECURUS. 



ply of nourishment from the soil, the produce 

 stands thinner and proves less weighty than 

 the crops afforded by that variety. It flowers 

 in April or early in May, and continues to pro- 

 duce flowering culms until the autumn. 



Alopecurus bulbosus geniculatus. Bulbous- 

 rooted, knee-jointed, foxtail-grass. The pro- 

 duce and nutritive powers of this perennial 

 grass are so inconsiderable as to justify a con- 

 clusion that it is comparatively of no use to 

 the agriculturist. I have found it but seldom 

 in a wild state. It grows on a soil of a drier 

 nature than the fibrous-rooted variety, to be 

 spoken of hereafter. When raised from seed 

 on a moist soil, it still retains the bulbous root, 

 which goes the length to prove, that if it is not 

 a distinct species, it is at least a permanent 

 variety. 



Alopecurus geni&thtus. Knee-jointed, foxtail- 

 grass. There are two varieties of this species 

 of foxtail-grass : the present, which is by far 

 the more common, is distinguished from the 

 other by its fibrous root and gre; 

 less common variety has a bulbous root. The 

 A. bnlbosus may be distinguished from the bul- 

 bous-rooted variety of the knee-jointed species, 

 by its upright culms, which want the knee- 

 jointed form so conspicuous in the culms of 

 the former. (5m. EngL l-'lrti.) It is ,- 

 nial, and grows commonly in surface drains, 

 and at the entrance of cattle ponds, 

 lady where the soil is clayey. It d 

 appear to be eaten with much relish 1 

 cows, horses, oi- sheep. Its nutritive powers 

 are not considerable, and its sub-aquatic natural 

 place of growth excludes any recommendation 

 of it for cultivation. Flowers in the first 

 week of June, and during the summer. [This 

 species is designated by Professor D< 

 the true foxtail-grass, which in Massachusetts 

 grows in wet, muddy bottoms, ilowermg in 

 July.] 



Aliiprmrn* prill 

 'See Plate 5, of PASTI-UK < > 



>f Britain and most parts of 

 Europe, from Italy, through France, Germany. 

 Holland, to Denmark, Aorway, Sweden, and 



1'rider the best management, it does not at- 

 tain to its fullest productive powers from seed 

 till four years; hence it is inferior to the 

 coek's-foot grass for the purposes of ultimate 

 cropping, and to many other grasses besides. 

 The herbage, however, contains more nutritive 

 matter than that of the cock's-foot, though the 

 weight of grass produced in one season is con- 



iv less. It thrives well under in 

 ing possession of the crowns of the ridges ; 

 and is strictly permanent. Sheep are very < 

 fond of it ; when combined with white clover j 

 only, the second season on a sandy loam, it is | 

 sufficient for the support of five couple of ewes | 

 and lambs per acre. As it only thrives in per- 

 fection on lands of an intermediate quality as 

 to moisture and dryness, and also being some- 

 what longer in attaining to its full productive 

 state than some other grasses, its merits have 

 been misunderstood in many instances ; and 

 in others, as in the alternate husbandry, it ha< 

 been, by some persons, set aside altogether. 



10 



In many rich natural pastures, it constitutes 

 the principal grass. Though not so well 

 adapted, therefore, for the alternate husbandry, 

 it. is one of the best grasses for permanent pas- 

 ture, and should never form a less proportion 

 than one-eighth of any admixture of different 

 grasses prepared for that purpose ; its merits 

 demand this, whether in respect to early 

 growth, produce, nutritive qualities, or perma- 

 nency. It has been observed by the Rev. Mr. 

 Swayne, (in his G-tt/niri't Piiscuu, a work 

 which contains much valuable information on 

 the subject of grasses), that nearly two-thirds 

 of the seed is constantly destroyed by insects: 

 according to my experiments, this evil may be 

 almost entirely obviated by suffering the first 

 culms of the season to carry the seed. It flowers 

 in April, May, and June, according as it may 

 have been depastured earlier or later. Seed 

 rine in June and July, according to the season 

 .dow-foxtail constitutes 



part of the product' of all the richest pastures 

 I have examined in Lincolnshire, Devonshire, 

 and in the vale of Avle-hiiry. In Mr. West- 

 -d pastures at ('reslew I found it 

 more prevalent than in those of Devonshire 

 and Lincolnshire. 



id to prove that i 1 



nearly three-- produce greater from a 



a silicioiis sandy soil, 

 I from the latter soil is f 

 comparatively less value in the proportion of 

 The ciilm> produced on the sandy 

 soil are deficient in number, and in every re- 

 spect smaller than those from the clayey loam ; 

 ounts for the difference 



in the quantitv of nutritive matter atlorded 

 by equal quantities of the grass. It is not the 

 strength and rankness of the grass that indi- 

 : the soil tor its growth, but 

 the number and quality of the culms. The 

 proportionate value in which the grass of the 

 latter-math exceeds that of the flowering crop 

 to :*; a difference which appears extra- 

 ordinary when the quantity of flowering culms 

 iered. In the A'if/mxunl/ium odnratum 

 Motional difference is still greater, the 

 luiier-math being to the flowering crop in nu- 

 triment nearly as j to 4. In the Poa trivialis 

 they are equal ; but in all the later-flowering 

 grasses that have culms resembling those of 

 the meadow-foxtail and sweet-scented vernal, 

 the greater proportional value is always, on the 

 contrary, found in the grass of the flowering 

 crop. "Whatever the cause may be, it is evi- 

 dent that the loss sustained by taking these 

 grasses at the time of flowering is consider- 

 able. In ordinary cases, this seldom happens 

 in practice, because these grasses perfect their 

 seed about the season when hay-harvest gene- 

 rally commences, unless whore the pasture has 

 been stocked till a late period in the spring, 

 which cannot, in this respect, be productive 

 of any ultimate advantage, but rather loss. 

 The proportional value which the grass, at 

 the time the seed is ripe, bears to that at the 

 time of flowering is as 3 to 2. The superiority 

 of the produce from a light loam over that 

 from a clayey soil is as 4 to 3. 



Alopecurus Tauntunensis Taunton's meadow 

 G 73 



