- 255 



the poorest pastures on a cold boulder clay soil has been drained, 

 dressed with 10 cwt. per acre of high quality slag in November, iqo8, 

 and sown with 12 Ib. wild white clover seed per a<re in April, 1909, 

 there is now a capital sward of white clover where the soil and 

 subsoil left on the surface after draining has been suificient to give 

 a seed-bed to the clover seeds. Where, however, there is much 

 benty herbage and no loose soil the sown clover has not established 

 itself, although basic slag has greatly developed the clovers and 

 allied plants naturally present in the pasture. " 



A. N. MC'ALPINE. Grasses. The Standard Cyclopedia of Modern 

 Agricultural and Rural Economy ', London, 1910. 



The object of this article in the Modern Cyclopedia of Agri- 

 culture, by the well-known writer on Grasses, is to explain those 

 peculiarities upon which the agricultural value of grasses depends, 

 and also to indicate those points of construction which must be 

 noticed in order to distinguish one species from another when in 

 leaf, when in ear and when in seed. 



The various details are considered under the following heads. 



I. Distinction between grasses and their allies. 

 II. Parts of grass plant. 



III. Tillering. 



IV. Duration of life. 

 V. Modes of growth. 



VI. Height of grasses when in ear. 

 VII. Natural habitat of grasses. 

 VIII. Soil for grasses and indicator grasses. 

 IX. Grass leaves. 



X. How to know grasses by their leaves. 

 XI. Grass ears. 

 XII. How to know grasses by their ears. 



XIII. Grass seeds. 



XIV. How to know grasses by their seeds. 



XV. Impurities and adulterants of commercial seed. 



Mr. William Carruthers, the Botanist. His work from 1871 

 to 1909. Improving Pastures. Journal of the R. Agric. Soc. 

 of England, vol. 70, 1909, pp. 1-12. 



Mr. William Carruthers, who for nearly forty years was consult- 

 ing Botanist to the R. Agricultural Society of England, has now 



