GRASS. 



GRASS. 



Augurt. 



Crested hair-grass (1ira erw'afa) - 2 



Giant lyme-grass (Elymus fiftninu) - - 2 



Decumbent meadow-grass (Pon decumbens) - '< 



Spelt wheat-grass (TriHcHm xpelta) 3 



Slender wheat-grass ('/'/i'icuw ferine) - - 4 



Hrardrd wheat-grass (Trincum caninttm) - 4 



Awnless wheat-grass (Triucum caninum vat.) 4 



Common bunt-grass (Agruatia vtiljraris) - 4 



Upright mat-grass (JV*<irdiur0triccu) - - - 5 ' 



Sniiill spurious tare (Erinnn Krcilia) - 4 



Hroad-lt-avi-d oat-grass (Arena planiculmis) - ' 



Hairy tare (Ervum hirsutum) - - - - 6 



FOH r-sneded tare (Ervum ittraspermum) - - 6 



Glaucous meadow-grass (I'mi iftuuca) - - 6 



Procumbent meadow-grass (Poa procumbens) - 6 

 Long-rooted clover (Tnfulium macrorhizm*) PI. 



8, A 6 



Wooil bent-grass {JlfrttHt sylra'iciis) 



Tall f.-rtile fescue grass (Ventura tlaiiur feriilin) 6 



Many-flowering brume-grass (Bruinua multijlu- 



r,is) 5 



1'hiladelphian lyme-grass (Elymut Philadelphi- 



eus) - - 6 to 20 



Ror.lid vetch (Vicia sordid*) - - - -6 20 



Slender-leaved veirh (^iria trnuifolia) - 



JJe.irdless tall oat-grass (Hulcux avenaceu.8 MUti- 



ciw) 7 



Hed tiroine-grass (Bromus rubem) 9 



feaMn'iateMC'fraMCJMHlMJbvMai) - - 



Foxtail-like fescue (Ft stum aluptcuruides) - 10 23 



Hedgehog lyme-grasH (Klymus hunt rue) - - 10 



llarren Imnne -gratis (Bromus tterilu) - - 10 



Jointed lyme-grass (Elmiius ffeniculatus) - 1 



Gulden oat (Aetna flartsctns) - - - - -<> 



Fine-pHiiided (Arundo Calamagrostia) - - 21 30 



Meadow barley-grass (Hrdeum pratenge) PI. 5, d 21 



Narrow -leaved brome (Browns unguatifvliiu) ' 



Slender rye-grass (folium ttiiue) - - - 2i 

 Spear-panicled bronie-gras (Bromus laaceola- 



tus) - - 24 



Sainfoin (Onobrychu *ativa) PI. 8, g - - 24 



Aug. to Spt. 



Winced hrome-grass (Bromvg pinnattu) - - 28 5 



llrown lient-grass (Jlgrosti* caninn) - - 29 30 



Hundled-leaved bent (A. vulgaria fatcicularii) 29 



Couch grass (Triticum repent) - - 30 



Wood vetch (ficia nylvatica) - - - - 30 



Sept. 



Tu fled vetch (Vicia crace a) - - - 4 12 



Foxtail uat-'.-rass (JJccnn altiper.uroidea) - - 5 12 

 Awnless brown bent (J9frro.~tiy eunmu var. nnt- 



tica 5 



Couch bent-grass (Jlgrostis alb.t) - - - 6 15 



Fiorin grass (A. stulouifera) PI. 5, n - 8 



And many others. October, 



(.'oiiirnon reed-nrass (Arnndo phraymiieg) - 10 15 



Arneriran cock's-foot (Dactylis ci/m>snroides) 10 



tUiff wheat-grass (7Vi(icui'rii'i</um) - - 1213 



And five or six others. (Sine/air'* Hort. Gram. II' ub. p. 



35.) 



Of these grasses those regarded in England 

 as the chief and most useful species and varie- 

 ties are comprehended in the following list : 



From some experiments, given in the Trans. 

 High. Soc. vol. ii. p. 250, by Messrs. Lawson & 

 Co., it would seem that the raising of the seeds 

 of the artificial grasses is attended with con- 

 siderable profit. 



The late Mr. Blakie suggested a very excel 

 Icnl plau for saving the seeds of down grasses, 



or of those grasses which are peculiarly adapt- 

 ed for elevated dry soils (Farm. Jaurn. March 

 17, 1823), viz. to fence off a sufficient portion 

 of these pastures, choosing such portions as 

 have the best kind of grasses, and to mow these 

 enclosures for seed in succession, at three, four, 

 or more different periods of the season. "By 

 these means," said Mr. G. Sinclair, "the seeds 

 of the early, midsummer, and late vegetating 

 grasses will be obtained, and which could not, 

 it is evident, be obtained by one mowing in one 

 season. This is," he adds, "a highly valuable 

 mode of obtaining the seeds of those grasses 

 adapted for downs ; which, to cultivate sepa- 

 rately for the seed, would be a fruitless under- 

 taking. Fence the selected turf well, and early 

 in the season, and prepare for mowing by pick- 

 in" the stones or rubbish from the surface, and 

 by rolling. As the seeds ripen, employ a care- 

 ful bird-watcher. Mow in dry, favourable wea- 

 ther. If the swaths are heavy, they should be 

 turned with great caution, so as not to shake 

 out the ripe seeds. As soon as the mowing is 

 dry, the seed should be immediately thrashed 

 out on a close woven cloth in the field, and on 

 a dry day; and when a certain portion of the 

 later grasses ripen their seed, another mowing 

 should be effected, and so on, until all the 

 grasses in the enclosure have perfected their 

 seed." (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 39, 40.) " As every 

 different soil," continues Sinclair, in another 

 portion of his invaluable work, "produces 

 grasses peculiar to itself, and as no other kinds 

 can be established or cultivated upon it with- 

 out first changing its nature to resemble that 

 which produced the kind of grasses we wish 

 to introduce; it becomes a point of the first 

 importance in making experiments on different 

 species of this numerous family of plants, and 

 in stating results, to determine with sufficient 

 accuracy the nature of the soil or different soils 

 employed. The basis of every improvement in 

 the cultivation of grasses is to sow the seeds 

 of there species only which are adapted to the 

 soil, or to change the nature of unsuitable soils 

 to that which is fitted for the growth of grasses 

 most desirable to be cultivated; and, unless 

 this important point is in the first place at- 

 tended to, disappointment rather than success 

 may be expected to follow the labours of the 

 farmer." 



1. Of the grasses of rich natural pastures. 

 Every farmer is aware that peculiar grasses 

 are the productive tenants of his rich natural 

 pastures, and that if these are ploughed up, and 

 a course of grain crops taken from the soil, a 

 considerable period elapses before the turf with 

 which it was formerly covered can be restored. 

 George Sinclair carefully noted this fact, and 

 examined, not altogether unsuccessfully, its 

 cause. He observed that "the different grasses 

 and other plants which compose the produce 

 of the richest natural pastures are in number 

 26, and that from the spring to the end of au- 

 tumn there is not a month that does not con- 

 stitute the particular season of luxuriance of 

 one or more of these grasses ; hence proceeds 

 the constant supply of rich, succulent herbage 

 throughout the whole of the season, a circum- 

 stance which but seldom or never happens in 

 artificial pastures, where the herbage consists 



571 



