GRASS. 



GRASS. 



The common Ray or Rye-grass (Lolium pe- 

 renne}, is said to be the first of the grasses cul- 

 tivated in England, and even in Europe. Ac- 

 cording to Donaldson, the latest English writer 

 upon Brasses, it is still regarded as not far re- 

 moved from being first in point of general 

 utility. One of the species of Lolium, the tctnu- 

 lentum, or bearded annual darnel, is sometimes 

 mistaken for what is known in the United States 

 by the names of Cheat or Chess, so often found 

 among wheat and barley crops. See DARXEL. 

 The varieties of the Lolium perenne are very 

 numerous, and several improvements have 

 been effected in England on the original plant, 

 known under the names of Pacey's, Stickney's, 

 and Russell's Ray-grasses, Pacey's and Rus- 

 sell's being considered the best. For more 

 than a century and a half this grass has con- 

 tinued in high repute in England, both for the 

 purpose of a single crop and for pastures, and 

 now constitutes a part of all kinds of the im- 

 proved mixtures. The modern objection to 

 ray-grass is the shooting up to stems and 

 culms, and the want of foliage, together with 

 a deficiency of aftermath. "But," says Do- 

 naldson, "the first only happens in upland 

 situations and on poor soils, where any other 

 plant would have the same tendency; for on 

 good soils ray-grass grows large, leafy, and 

 succulent, and in many cases it affords as 

 good lattermath as most others, and forms, 

 when sown with clover, a very useful sward 

 for several years. No pla.nl is liable to greater 

 variation from soil and situation, and hence 

 may have arisen the many discordant opinions 

 of its value ; and from being sown singly with 

 clovers it has been more exposed to observa- 

 tion than any other grasses which are usually 

 sown in mixtures, and seldom tried singly for 

 one crop or for a longer duration. It has ac- 

 cordingly been much subjected to fancies and 

 conjectures, which are about equally divided 

 for and against the use of it, the former being 

 yet the most numerous. Coarseness is inferred 

 from the benty stalks standing uncropped ; 

 these might be kept under by early and close 

 grazing, and other grasses are equally objec- 

 tionable on that point; and it produces stems 

 during the whole season, while some grasses 

 produce only one, and it is not yet known if 

 the leaves or stalks of plants contain most nu- 

 triment. So far as our knowledge extends, 

 after all the investigations and best experience 

 upon the subject, ray-grass forms the plant of 

 all others the best suited for general purposes. 

 For a crop of hay along with clovers, no other 

 grass \vill afford an equal quantity and quality 

 of produce on all the different variety of soils 

 on which they are sown. It yields very readily, 

 and with much less comparative trouble, an 

 abundance of sound, healthy seed, and of cer- 

 tain growth ; it rises early in the spring, and is 

 much relished by all kinds of stock; the hay 

 is good and fetches a high price, and it is used 

 with much advantage when sown in autumn 

 along with other plants as spring feed for 

 sheep." (Donaldson, on Manures, Grasses, ^r.) 



After all the experiments that have been 

 made on the other grasses, none, says Loudon, 

 have !>een found to equal the perennial rye- 

 grass for a course of mowing and pasturing 

 73 



for two, three, or seven years. It is sown in 

 Italy, and especially in Lombardy, and also in 

 France and Germany, along with clover, for 

 the same purposes as in England; and, as Von 

 Thaer has remarked, though some have tried 

 other species, both in these countries and in 

 England, they have in the end returned to the 

 rye-grass. When intended as a pasture grass, 

 if stocked hard, and when for hay, if mown 

 early, the objections to it are removed. (Code 

 of Agriculture.) 



The Floating Fescue-grass (Festuca fluitans, 

 PI. 5, /) is found in England in ditches, ponds, 

 and swamps, and in most parts of the country, 

 especially in Cambridgeshire, where it is said 

 to give the peculiar flavour to Cottenham and 

 Cheddar cheese. 



It is greedily devoured by all kinds of stock, 

 not excepting hogs and ducks, and geese 

 eagerly devour the seeds, which are small, 

 but very sweet and nourishing. They are col- 

 lected in many parts of Germany and Poland 

 under the name of manna-seeds (schwaden), 

 and are esteemed a delicacy in soups and 

 gruels. When ground to meal, they make 

 bread very little inferior to that from wheat. 

 Fish feed upon the seeds, and trout are said to 

 thrive greatly in streams where this grass 

 grows abundantly. Curtis justly remarks, that 

 the flote fescue will not flourish except in land 

 that is constantly under water, or converted 

 into a bog or swamp, (London's Enry. of ^gr.) 



The Water Meadoio-grat* (Poa aqnatica, PI. 5, 

 m), is one of the largest of English grasses. 

 It is found chiefly in marshes, but will grow 

 on strong clays, and yield, as the Woburn ex- 

 periments prove, a prodigious produce. In the 

 fens of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, &c., im- 

 mense tracts, that used to be overflowed and 

 to produce useless aquatic plants, and which, 

 though drained by mills, still retain much 

 moisture, are covered with this grass, which 

 not only affords rich pasturage in summer, but 

 forms the chief part of the winter fodder. It 

 has a powerfully creeping root, and bears fre- 

 quent mowing well, sometimes being cut three 

 times in one season. It grows not only in very 

 moist ground, but in the water itself, and with 

 cat-tail, bur-weed, &c., soon fills up ditches, 

 and occasions therh to require frequent cleans- 

 ing. In this respect it is a formidable plant, 

 even in slow rivers. In the Isle of Ely they 

 cleanse these by an instrument called a bear, 

 which is an iron roller, with a number of 

 pieces of iron, like small spades, fixed to it. 

 This is drawn up and down the river by horses 

 walking along the banks, and tears up the 

 plants by the roots, which float and are carried 

 down the stream. 



The^jorin grass (Jlgrostis stolonifei-a, PI. 5, n), 

 is in England a very common grass, both 

 in wet and dry, rich and poor situations. Few 

 plants, however, appear to be more under the 

 influence of local circumstances than this 

 grass. On dry soils it is worthless, but on rich 

 and moist soils, if we may attach confidence 

 to the accounts given of its produce in Ireland, 

 it is the most valuable of all herbage plants. 

 (See AGROSTIS.) Though florin will, in Eng- 

 land and Ireland, ripen its seeds on a dry soil, 

 and these seeds being very small, a few pounds 

 30 577 



