GRASSES, GRAINS, AND PLANTS. 555 



was the first grass gathered separately for agricultural purposes. 

 He further states that it has been known since 1611, the date 

 of the earliest agricultural book which mentions it. Mr. George 

 Sinclair, in his advertisement to the fourth edition of the " Hor- 

 tus Gramineus Woburnensis," says : 



" The time has been in this country [i.e., England] when providing sufficient 

 forage for live-stock in winter was a matter of the greatest difficulty, and 

 great losses were sustained, and many advantages given up, on account of the 

 absolute want of winter fodder. Old turf, suitable either for grazing or for 

 the scythe, was supposed to be a creation of centuries, and that a farmer, who 

 wished to lay down a meadow in his youth, must see the end of his " three 

 score years and ten " before he could possibly possess a piece of pasture 

 capable of keeping a score of sheep or a couple of cows. So much was the 

 want of grass-land felt among arable farmers in times past that the tenancy 

 of it was eagerly sought, its value was consequently highly prized, and heavy 

 fines were imposed for breaking it up. The banks of rivers were usually 

 made commonable, in order that the surrounding farmers might each have a 

 share ; and these meadows were in many cases irrigated in order to increase 

 still more the scanty stock of winter fodder." 



Perennial rye-grass, as we have seen, began to be cultivated 

 early in the seventh century, and it seems to have been about 

 the only grass so cultivated for a hundred years longer. In 

 1763 it is said that a Mr. Wynch brought from Virginia into 

 England the Phleum pratense, under the local name of timothy- 

 grass, it having been cultivated in the United States for some 

 forty years. This was also soon established as an agricultural 

 grass in England, and a few years later was followed by the 

 introduction of orchard-grass (Dactylis glomerate) from Virginia, 

 by the Society of Arts ; at least this statement is made by Mr. 

 Parnell in his work on British grasses. 



As to Pkleum pratense (timothy-grass), it is naturally widely 

 diffused over Europe, but it is admitted by all that its cultiva- 

 tion was first undertaken in the United States, where it is also 

 indigenous in mountainous regions. It is, however, well known 

 that in Europe, up to about the year 1815, there were but three 

 or four kinds of grass generally cultivated. At that time the 

 Duke of Bedford instituted his famous series of experiments at 

 Woburn, in England, for determining the nutritive properties of 

 different grasses. These experiments brought into notice many 

 before unnoticed grasses, and greatly stimulated their cultiva- 



