GRASSES. 



and rough iT>cado\v grasses are sown 

 in various proportions \%'ith tlie clo- 

 vers and rye grass. The seeds of 

 the two sorts of meadow grass are 

 apt to stick together, and require to 

 be well mixed witli tiie others before 

 being sown. The tall and spiked fes- 

 cue grasses, having a number of bar- 

 ren flowers, are not prolific in seeds, 

 and they are therefore seldom to be got 

 at the seed-shops. To this list may 

 be added Andes grass {Avena {Fcs- 

 tuca) elatior), which, on strong lands, 

 produces a good crop, and is remark- 

 ably early in the United States : it 

 may be pastured with success, and 

 should be cut before seed, as it be- 

 comes coarse. See Bermuda and 

 Grama Grass. 



" As hay grasses, adapted for par- 

 ticular soils and situations, the cat's- 

 tail or Timothy, floating fescue, flo- 

 rin, and herd's grass, have been rec- 

 ommended ; but it cannot be said 

 that the opinions of cultivators are 

 unanimous in their favour. Timothy 

 has certainly been found to answer 

 well on moist, peaty soils, and in sev- 

 eral cases florin also. 



"The cafs-tail, or Timothy grass 

 {Pkletim pratense, L., Fig. 3, a,), is a 

 naturalized plant, and grows both in 



dry and moist soils. On moist, rich 

 soils it is a prolific grass, but late ; on 

 dry soils it is good for little, and for 

 cultivation in any way is disapproved 

 of by Withering, Swaine, Curtis, and 

 others, as having no properties in 

 which it i-s not greatly surpassed by 

 the meadow foxtail. 



The AVoburn experiments, howev- 

 er, present this grass as one of the 

 most prolific for hay. The compar- 

 ative merits of this grass appear to 

 be very great ; to which may be add- 

 ed the abundance of fine foliage that 

 it produces early in the spring. In 

 this respect it is inferior to Poafer- 

 tilis and Poa angustifolia only. The 

 value of the straws at the time the 

 seed is ripe exceeds that of the grass 

 at the time of flowering in the pro- 

 portion of twenty-eight to ten, a cir- 

 cumstance which raises it above 

 many others ; for from this property 

 its valuable early foliage may be de- 

 pastured to an advanced period of 

 the season, without injury to the crop 

 of hay, treatment which, in grasses 

 that send forth their flowering straws 

 early in the season, would cause a 

 loss of nearly one half in the value 

 of the crop, as clearly proved by for- 

 mer examples ; and this property of 

 3. 



the straws makes the plant peculiar- 

 ly desirable for hay. In moist and 

 peaty soils it has in various instances 

 been found highly productive. 



Permanent hay grasses requiring peculiar soils. 



" The floating fescue grass (F«/«- 

 cafluitatis, b) is found in rich marshes. 



" It is greedily devoured by every 

 description of stock, not excepting 



339 



