212 CULTIVATION OF GRASSES. 



or have sown them so sparingly, or of so few kinds, that 

 we have in a great measure lost much of the profit which 

 they are calculated to afford. Timothy and red clover 

 have heen almost the only seeds sown ; and unless the 

 soil has been prolific in indigenous kinds, our pastures 

 have been thin, and our meadows light. There is one 

 fact in regard to grasses which is not sufficiently known 

 and appreciated. Different species subsist upon different 

 specific properties of the soil, and draw their food from 

 different strata, the fibrous-rooted gathering sustenance 

 from the upper, and the tap-rooted from the lower stra- 

 tum. And It has been found, that although a superficial 

 square foot of turf will only support a given number of 

 plants of one species, it will nevertheless support double 

 or treble that number of plants comprising several spe- 

 cies. 



We mean, by cultivated grasses, those of which the 

 seeds are sown by the husbandman, whether indigenous, 

 or natural to the soil, or exotic. And in discussing the 

 subject, we shall consider them under two heads, and 

 shall draw liberally for facts and illustrations from Lou- 

 don and other approved agricultural writers. The divis- 

 ions we propose. are, — 



1. Herbage plants, or those particularly fitted for al- 

 ternate husbandry. 



2. Cultivated grasses, or those best adapted for mead- 

 ow and pasture. 



§ 1 . Herbage Plants. 



Under this head, Loudon has embraced the clovers, 

 lucerne, sainfoin, birdsfoot trefoil, parsley, burnet, rib- 

 wort, plantain, broom, wall-flower, yarrow, &c. The 

 six last are never cultivated among us as herbage or field 

 plants ; the sainfoin, which is peculiarly adapted to 

 chalk soils, has never been successfully cultivated among 

 us, and the birdsfoot trefoil but partially. We shall 

 therefore confine our remarks, in this department, to the 

 clovers and lucerne. 



The cultivation of clovers and lucerne exclusively for 

 live slock, is comparatively a modern improvement in 



