CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 227 



3. Orchard Grass or Rough Cock's-foot. 



This is a native plant, coarse, but very nutritive, of early 

 and rapid growth. In England, where it was introduced from 

 Virginia in the year 1780, it is generally sown with clovers. 

 It is justly held to be one of the superior pasture grasses, and 

 is suited for forage as well as for herbage. It requires to be 

 closely cropped. It grows well on loamy and sandy soils, and 

 is not much injured in its growth by shade. LORAINE says, 

 "it is very valuable. When cut by the scythe it neither waits 

 for fresh shoots from its roots, nor until its wounds be healed, 

 but continues growing on just as if nothing had happened. The 

 leaves which have been cut, will grow on a rich soil, nearly, if 

 not quite, one inch in twenty-four hours, forming new points 

 gradually as they increase in length." 



This (orchard) grass is worthy of being cultivated on account of its uncom- 

 mon luxuriance. Horses, cows, and sheep eat it readily, and it is valuable on 

 account of its excellent after-feed. It affords an abundant crop, springs early, 

 and grows fast, makes excellent hay, and yields abundance of seed, which is 

 not easily shaken out. It is a hardy grass, round highly useful in moist loamy 

 soils, and thriving under the shade of trees. It comes early, is soon mature, 

 and continues green until late in the season, as clover does. If intended for 

 fodder, it should be cut while young and tender. 



The quantity of seed to the acre is usually one bushel. JOHN 

 HARE POWELL, Esq., who was many years since a successful 

 cultivator, recommends two bushels to the acre. LLOYD JONES, 

 Esq., in a communication read before the "Pennsylvania Agri- 

 cultural Society," states, that he has cultivated orchard grass 

 for twenty-five years, and he considers it as the best herbage 

 for pasturage upon upland for hay it certainly cannot be ex- 

 celled. When his crops failed, it was owing to the bad quality 

 of the seed; of this there can be no doubt, as he never lost a 

 crop after he raised and secured his own seed. His method of 

 saving the seed is this: 



When in a state in which they can be shaken from the heads, the stems are 

 cut by a skilful cradler just above the tops of the under grass. After some 

 practice, he is enabled to catch with the left hand, the portion taken with the 

 cradle, and to place them regularly as he advances. They are immediately 

 bound in sheaves about as large gs a man's leg. Double swarths are after- 

 wards mown with a naked scythe to remove the under grass, and leave, at 

 proper distances throughout the field, openings upon which the sheaves are 

 shocked; in which state they remain from eight to ten days, until sufficiently 

 dry to be carried to thebarn,"where they are forthwith threshed to guard against 

 heating, the great source of injury to this valuable crop. The usual manner of 

 securing them by putting the sheaves into the mow, is, I am satisfied, the most 

 effectual mode to destroy the principle of vegetation, as they can rarely be so 

 treated without being mow-burned. After having been threshed, they should 

 be strewed upon the barn floor occasionally stirred if the quantity be large, 

 during eight or ten days, until they are perfectly dry without this precaution 

 they would inevitably be heated. 



