338 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



should not be cut before the seed is ripe. ^ When 

 sown, it tillers like rye and wheat, and in such 

 cases is shortlived. To meadows that have been 

 cut two years in succession, before the seed is 

 ripe, harrowing is beneficial, and by breaking the 

 long and fibrous roots, the plants are multiplied. 

 If the meadow be soft and miry it should be har- 

 rowed in the spring before the frost is out. 



When feeding out the hay, it is a good prac- 

 tice to save the seed, chaflf and all, and sow it on 

 swales, moist upland, and well drained lowlands 

 that are occasionally submerged. In all situa- 

 tions it produces seed in abundance, which will 

 readily germinate among other grasses. Sown 

 liberally over moist mowing-fields, it serves to 

 keep out foul vegetation, otherwise prevalent. — 

 Every farmer should cultivate a small patch for 

 seed to be used as aforesaid. 



Fowl-meadow makes excellent fodder for sheep 

 and cows ; but for horses it is too fine to distend 

 ^ the bowels when fed with grain. However large 

 the produce, it is never coarse, the buts being 

 eaten with the same relish as the finer parts ; 

 consequently there is little or no waste. If the 

 burden be heavy, it does not fall flat by its own 

 weight, but 'cripples,' the lower part near the 

 ground with the top erect. If bent down by a 

 summer freshet, new plants start from the joints 

 and increase the yield without rot or decay. 



"The stalks of this grass near the ground are 

 small and wiry, and full of joints, containing lit- 

 tle moisture, consequently are easily made into 

 hay ; and as the upper portions are small and 

 limber, it is very little affected by rains while ly- 

 ing in cock in the field. Hence it is easily cured 

 for the mow or the stack." 



In a letter from Mr. Jones, he refers to Mr. 

 Eliot as quoted above ; he also adds that "it is a 

 native grass of Maine and New Brunswick, grow- 

 ing abundantly on the intervals of the St. John's 

 before the arrival of the Europeans. Wild lands 

 'cleared near the intervals of Madawaska require 

 no seeding, the seed having been diffused by the 

 moose, deer and cattle, feeding on the grass." 



"For cattle and sheep it is preferred by those 

 best acquainted with it, to Timothy or herds- 

 grass. It never rusts, and may stand late with 

 out suffering injury, — is easily cured, a ton of it 

 occupying a less space, it is said, than any other 

 kind of hay. 



Fowl-meadow is like red-top. On lands suit- 

 able for it, the crop is superior to red-top. Un- 

 less seeded once in two or three years it runs out. 

 It is most grown in the country back of Port- 

 land, where seed enough may be obtained, and 

 that, too, of the right kind. The best time to sow 

 the seed is in August, when Nature sows the 

 seed. It may, like other grass seeds, be sown 

 at any time and with any other kinds. If the 

 seed be scarce, a peck per acre, on suitable land, 

 will soon spread over the whole. It will grow 

 on any land not too wet, but best on lands sub 

 ject to overflowing by spring freshets, if well 

 drained, after the waters subside. A common 

 fault is, that such lands are not well-drained, and 

 consequently, the water-grasses crowd out the 

 Fowl-meadow. Dry weather has but little effect 

 upon Fowl-meadow." 



The two descriptions of the True Fowl-meadow, 

 native American, h)a nervata, the former by the 

 Rev. Jared Eliot, of Killingworth, Ct., 110 years 



ago, and the latter by Archibald Jones, of Frank- 

 fort, Me., are the fullest and best in print, and 

 are worthy of a place in the Farmer, where they 

 may be read and referred to in time to come. 



I shall next invite attention to George Sin- 

 clair's Hortus Gramineus Wohurnensis, or an 

 account of the results of experiments on th^ 

 produce and nutritive qualities of the different 

 grasses and other plants used for food for the 

 more valuabe domestic animals, instituted by the 

 Duke of Bedford, and prepared and published 

 in 1824. 



His experiments with the two grasses under 

 consideration, the German grass, Poa serotina 

 or fertilis and the American or Pua nervata, or 

 Olyceria nervata of Gray, resulted as follows: 



The German grass at the time of flowering 

 produced per acre, weighed while green, 15,654 

 lbs. ; soil sandy loam ; loss by curing, 9000 lbs. ; 

 hay when dry, 6,653 lbs. When ripe, per acre, 

 14,973 lbs. ; loss by curing, 6,738 ; weight when 

 dry, 8,235 lbs. ; weight of the nutritive matter, 

 733 lbs. ; this exceeds, when ripe, that of the 

 produce cut in flower, in the proportion of 5 to 

 3 ; and the produce of the latter-math to that at 

 the time of flowering is as 3 to 6 ; and to the 

 same, when the seed is ripe, 3 to 10. 



In regard to early growth this grass ranks next 

 to meadow fox-tail, cock's-foot or orchard-grass 

 and tall oat. It is remarkable that the latter- 

 math should be more nutritious than at the time 

 of flowering ; but this is owing to its property of 

 sending forth a succession of flowering culms 

 until frost comes ; hence the xia.xnes,, fertilis and 

 serotina, M. Host and Schrader speak of it as 

 a grass suited in Germany to moist pastures and 

 river-banks. 



The American grass, the true Fowl-meadow, 

 produced per acre while in the state of flowering, 

 21,780 lbs.; loss in drying, 13,612 lbs.; when 

 dry, weighed 8,167 lbs. ; when the seed was ripe, 

 21,780 lbs.; loss drying 13,068 lbs.; when dry, 

 weighed 8,712 lbs.; nutritive matter 1,616 lbs. ; 

 the same whether cut while in flower or when the 

 seed is ripe, the weight at the time of cutting 

 both being the same ; a circumstance, says Mr. 

 Sinclair, that occurs with no other grass. The 

 nutritive qualities of the latter-math exceed that 

 of most other grasses. The root-leaves are pro- 

 duced on a shoot, standing fan-like in two rows, 

 and are very succulent. 



It is a remarkably hardy grass. In Feb., 1814, 

 after a very severe winter, this species of Poa 

 was perfectly green and succulent, while not a 

 single other species, of nearly 300 about it, re- 

 mained in a healthful state. 



It is a native of North America, says Mr. Sin- 

 clair, the Scotchman, where the winters are long- 

 er and more severe and the summers warmer 

 than in our climate. Experience enables me to 

 state that this grass possesses valuable proper- 

 ties for agricultural purposes, — that it is a valu- 

 able pasture grass where the soil is not too dry. 



Ger. grass. Am. grass. 



Produce per acre, when flowering 15,654 lbs. 21 780 lbs. 



Loss in drying 9,000 " 13,612 " 



Dry hay, weight of 6,653 " 8,167 " 



Produce per acre when ripe 14,973 " 21,780 " 



Loss in drying 6,738 " 13,065 " 



Nutrition, weight of 733 " 1,616 " 



Thus does it appear that the true fowl-meadow 

 is superior to the other called by some farmers 



