90 On Matured Grasses. 



Cynosurus cristatus, Crested- dogstail. Hort. G. W. This is a 

 very prevalent grass in pastures of every description, but it is chiefly 

 valuable, for forming a sole or bottom, in clayey or moist, (not sour 

 or undrained land) surface soils. On sandy soils, or those which are 

 very dry, its produce is very inconsiderable, like the rough-stalked 

 meadow-grass before mentioned. There has been some difference of 

 opinion respecting the qualities of this grass. It certainly possesses 

 no merits for the alternate husbandry, and the growth of "its herbage 

 is slow and light. It is notwithstanding of essential use, as one of the 

 sole grasses, and a perfect pasture cannot be made, without a portion 

 of it entering into the composition of the sward. The herbage is nutri- 

 tive, and much liked by sheep and deer. In all the most celebrated 

 pastures we have examined, it constituted a considerable proportion of 

 the different species combined in them. The stalks are left un- 

 touched by cattle, and the seeds, adhering to the husks, afford a supply 

 of food to birds in winter; the culms are wiry, and stand upright in 

 snow. It flowers in June, and ripens the seed towards the end of 

 July. 



Holcus avenaceus, Tall oat-like soft-grass. Hort. G. W. p. 169. 

 There are two varieties of this grass, one with congeries of bulbous 

 roots, which are very troublesome in arable land, and constitute a 

 species of couch ; the other has few of these roots, and oftentimes they 

 are altogether wanting, the fibrous form of the root taking the place of 

 the bulbous. This is one of the tallest of the permanent pasture 

 grasses. It is most frequent in loams and clays, and is always pre- 

 sent in the most productive pastures, though in a smaller proportion, 

 than that in which the essential grasses are in general found. It is 

 eaten by stock in common with the other grasses. The weight of 

 produce is comparatively very great, but it is deficient in the quantity 

 of nutritive matter which it affords. It contains a larger proportion of 

 bitter extractive and saline matter than most other grasses, and it is 

 highly probable, that this property renders it indirectly nutritive, by 

 assisting or modifying the functions of digestion. It should enter but 

 sparingly into the mixture of seeds for a permanent pasture. 



Poa nemoralis, var. augusti/olia. Narrow-leaved wood meadow- 

 grass. Hort. G. W. p. 184. This grass springs early, and the her- 

 bage is remarkably fine and succulent, and highly nutritive. It is 

 much earlier and productive of spring herbage than the Poa trivialis, 

 before described ; and it resembles this species in having its most 

 valuable produce in spring. In summer, it is liable to be attacked by 

 the rust disease. It is much relished by stock ; and where the soil is 

 not too dry, it ought to find a place in the composition of permanent 

 pastures. 



Poa angustifolia, Narrow-leaved meadow-grass. Hort. G. W. 

 p. 184-. This species is nearly allied to the smooth-stalked meadow- 

 grass, and wherever that is proper to be sown, this is to be highly 

 preferred, as it is productive, and early in its produce. The spring 

 growth is in quantity nearly double that of the Poa pratensis, or Poa 

 trivialis, on any given quantity of ground. It affords also more nutri- 

 tive matter, and possesses greater reproductive power after being crop- 

 ped. Its having a creeping root demands attention, so that it may be 



