1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



273 



FOWL MEADOW, OR FALSE BEDTOP. 



1. Spikelet, magnifiej. 2. Flower. 3. Germ. 



Some months since we gave an engraving and 

 description of the ''Orchard Grass," intending 

 at that time to introduce other varieties of the 

 Grasses from time to time, as opportunity and 

 space would permit. We now have the pleasure 

 of presentins; the reader with a beautiful illus- 

 tration of one of the finest and best grasses of 

 New England, the Fowl Meadoic, or False Redtop 

 Gh-a^s. We copy the description from Flint's 

 Work on the "Grasses and Fobage Plants," 

 recently published. 



The specific characteristics of this species are 

 two to four, sometimes five, flowered spikelets, 

 oval, spear shaped, ligules elongated, flowers 

 acutish, green, often tinged with purple, roots 

 slightly creeping ; wet meadows and banks of 

 streams, very common. Flowers in July and 

 August. In long continued moist weather the 

 lower joints send up flowering stems. The pan- 

 icle is erect and spreading when in flower, but 

 more contracted and drooping when ripe. It is 

 perennial. Native of Germany. 



It early commended itself to the attention of 

 farmers, for Jared Eliot, writing in 1749, says of 

 it : "There are two sorts of grass which are na- 

 tives of the country, which I would recommend, 

 — these are Herds-grass, (known in Pennsylvania 

 by the name of Timothy-grass,) the other is Fowl 

 Meadow, sometimes called Duck-grass, and some- 

 times Swamp-wire Grass. It is said that Herds- 

 grass was first found in a swamp in Piscataqua, 

 by one Herd, who propagated the same ; that 

 Fowl Meadow-grass was brought into a poor 

 piece of meadow in Dedham, by ducks and other 

 wild water-fowl, and therefore called by such an 

 odd name. It is supposed to be brought into the 

 meadows at Hartford by the annual floods, and 

 called there Swamp-wire grass. Of these two 

 sorts of natural grass, the fowl-grass is much the 

 best ; it grows tall and thick, makes a more soft 

 and pliable hay than Herds-grass, and conse- 

 quently will be more fit for pressing, in order to 

 ship off" with our horses ; besides it is a good 

 grass, not in abundance inferior to English grass. 

 It yields a good burden, three loads to the aci'e. 

 It must be sowed in low, moist land. This grass 

 has another good quality, which renders it very 

 valuable in a country where help is so much want- 

 ing ; it will not spoil or sufi"er, although it stand 

 beyond the common times for mowing. Clover 

 will be lost, in a great measure, if it be not cut 

 in the proper season. Spear-grass, commonly 

 called English grass, if it stands too long, will 

 be little better than rye straw ; if this outstand 

 the time, it is best to let it stand till there comes 

 up a second growth, and then it will do tolerably 

 well ; but this fowl-grass may be mowed any time 

 from July to October. * * * This I won 

 dered at, but viewing some of it attentively, I 

 think I have found the reason of it. When it is 

 grown about three foot high it then falls down, 

 but doth not rot like other grass when lodged ; 

 in a little time after it is thus fallen down, at ev- 

 ery joint it puts forth a new branch ; now to 

 maintain this young brood of suckers there must 

 be a plentiful course of sap conveyed up through 



the main stem or straw ; by this means the grass 

 is kept green and fit for mowing all this long 

 period." 



This grass grows abundantly in almost every 

 part of New England, especially where it has 

 been introduced and cultivated in suitable ground, 

 such as the borders of rivers and intervals occa- 

 sionally overflowed. It will not endure to be 

 long covered with water, especially in warm 

 weather. It is well to let a piece go to seed, save 

 the seed and scatter it over low lands. It makes 

 an excellent grass for oxen, cows and sheep, but 

 is thought to be rather fine for horses. It never 

 grows so coarse or hard but that the stalk is sweet 

 and tender and eaten without waste. It is very 

 easily made into hay, and is more nutritive, ac- 

 cording to Sinclair, than either foxtail, orchard 

 grass, or tall meadow oat grass. Owing to its 

 constantly sending flowering stems, the grass of 

 the lattermath contains more nutritive matter 

 than the first crop at the time of flowering, hence 

 the names fertilis and serotina, fertile and late 

 flowering meadow grass. It thrives best when 

 mixed with other grasses, and desei'ves a place 

 in all mixtures for rich moist pastures. 



COOLING ROOMS. 



The warm weather will shortly be here, and 

 every one will be seeking the refreshing influ- 

 ence of a cool and shady place, whereunto they 

 can retreat from the blazing sun ; so we will give 

 our readers a few hints concerning the cooling of 

 their houses. The fii-st necessity is a thorough 

 draft. This can always be obtained by opening 

 every door and window in the basement, the top 

 of every window above, and by throwing each 

 door wide open ; but above all, be sure that the 

 trap door in the roof is open, and there is plenty 

 of air room from it down the stairs, so that what- 

 ever be the direction of the wind, there will at 

 least be one ascending current of air in the 

 house. Another requisite is shade. Our com- 

 mon slat shutters answer well for the windows, 

 but the cheapest and most convenient shelter for 

 the roof is to cover it thickly with straw, dried 

 reeds, or rushes. These will resist the influence 

 of the noonday sun, and keep the garret almost 

 as cool as the basement. One of the most sim- 

 ple methods, and at the same time the cheapest 

 means of artificially lowering the temperature of 

 a room, is to wet a cloth of any size, the larger 

 the better, and suspend it in the place you want 

 cooled ; let the room be well ventilated, and the 

 temperature will sink from ten to twenty degrees 

 in less than half an hour. 



The above hints will be useful to many, and as 

 a last suggestion we will inform the reader that, 

 in summer, it is well to keep a solution of chlor- 

 ide of lime in the house, and occasionally sprin- 

 kle it in the more frequented parts, as the pas- 

 sages and stairs. — Scientific American. 



Bright Boy. — Not long since some ladies 

 walking in the garden of an em.inent divine, who 

 has been classed among the transcendentalists, 

 saw his little boy scraping up the path with an old 

 table spoon. "What are you doing, my little 

 boy ?" inquired one of the ladies. "O," said 

 the young offshoot of transcendentalism, "I'm 

 digging after the Infinite." — N. Y. Post. 



