900 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III 



a fine early foliage m the spring. The produce is very great, and its nutritive powers are considerable. 

 It appears, from the above particulars, to be best adapted for hay. A very singular disease attacks, and 

 sometimes nearly destroys, the seed of this grass : the cause of this disease seems to be unknown ; it is 

 denominated clauus by some ; it appears by the seed swelling to three times its usual size, in length and 

 thickness, and the want of the corcle. Dr. Willdenow describes two distinct species of it : first, the simple 

 clavus, wiiich is mealy and of a dark colour, without any smell or taste ; secondly, the malignant clavus, 

 which is violet blue, or blackish, and internally too has a bluish colour, with a fetid smell, and a sharp 

 pungent taste. Bread made from grain affected with this last species, is of a bluish colour; and when 

 eaten, produces cramps and giddiness. 



575!2. Brdnnis littdretis Host. G. A. The proportional value which the grass, at the time of flowering, 

 bears to that at the time the seed is ripe, is as 6 to 14. This species greatly resembles the preceding, in 

 habit and manner of growth ; but is inferior to it in value, which is evident from the deficiency of its 

 produce, and of the nutritive matter afibrded by it. 'The whole plant is likewise coarser, and of greater 

 bulk in proportion to its weight. The seed is affected with the same disease which destroys that of the 

 former species. 



5733. Festiica Jluitans Curt. Lond. {Glt/ceria flMans E. of P. 1090.) The above produce was taken 

 from grass that had occupied the ground for four years ; during which time it had increased every year. 

 It appears, therefore, contrary to what some have supposed, to be capable of being cultivated in perennial 

 pastures. 



57.^4. Vhafertih's Host, G. A. If the nutritive powers and produce of this species be compared with 

 any other of the same family, or such as resemble it in habit ina the soil which it affects, a superiority 

 will be found, which ranks this as o!ie of the most valuable grasses. Next to the Pba angustifblia, it pro- 

 duces the greatest abundance of early foliage, of the best quality, which fully compensates for the compa- 

 rative lateness of flowering. 



5755. Arundo colordta Hort. Kew. The strong nutritive powers which this grass possesses recom- 

 mend it to the notice of occupiers of strong clayey lands which cannot be drained. Its produce is great, 

 and the foliage will not be denominated coarse, if compared with grasses which afford a produce equal in 

 quantity. 



5756. Hdrdeum pra/ense E. B The specific characters of this species are much the same as those of 

 the Poa f^rtilis, difiering in the compressed figure of the straws and creeping root only. If the produce 

 were of magnitude, it would be one of the most valuable grasses ; for it produces foliage early in the spring, 

 and possesses strong nutritive powers. 



5757. Avenajlavescens Curt. Lond. {Trisetum flavescens K of P. 1060 ) The proportional value which 

 the grass, at the time the seed is ripe, bears to that at the time of flowering, is as 9 to 15 The propor. 

 tional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to that at the time of flowering, is as 5 to 15 ; and to 

 that at the time the seed is ripe, as 5 to 9. 



5758. Hibmus st&rilis E. B. 64 dr. of the flowers afford of nutritive matter -2 dr. The nutritive 

 powers of the straws and leaves are, therefore, more than twice as great as those of the flowers. This 

 species, being strictly annual, is of comparatively little value. The above particulars show that it has very 

 considerable nutritive powers, more than its name would imply, if taken at the time of flowering; but if 

 left till the seed be ripe, it is, like all other annuals, comparatively of no value. 



5759. adieus 7n6llis. 64 dr. of the roots afford of nutritive matter 5 2 dr. The proportional value 

 which the grass, at the time the seed is ripe, bears to that at the time of flowering, is as 14 to 18. The 

 above details prove this grass to have merits, which, if compared with those of other species, rank it with 

 some of the best grasses. The small loss of weight which it sustains in drying might be expected from 

 the nature of the substance of the grass ; and the loss of weight at each period is equal. The grass affords 

 the greatest quantity of nutritive matter when in flower, which makes it rank as one of those best adapted 

 for hay. 



5760. Vhafertilis var. /3. Host, G. A. The proportional value which the grass, at the time of flowering, 

 bears to that at the time the seed is ripe, is as 12 to 20. The proportional value which the grass of the 

 lattermath bears to that at the time of flowering, is as 6 to 12 ; and to that at the time the seed is ripe, 

 as 6 to 20. 



5761. Vhleum nodosum Wither This grass is inferior in many respects to the Phleum prat^nse. It 



is sparingly found in meadows. From the number of bulbs which grow out of the straws, a greater portion 

 of nutritive matter might have been expected. This seems-to prove that these bulbs do not form so valu. 

 able a part of the plant as the joints, which are so conspicuous in the Phlfeum prat^nse, the nutritive 

 powers of which exceed those of the P. nodbsum as 8 to 28. 



5762. Agrostis vulgaris Wither. This is one of the most common of the bents, and likewise the earliest ; 

 in these respects it is superior to all others of the same family, but inferior to several of them in produce, 

 and the quantity of nutritive matter it affords. As the species of this family are generally rejected by the 

 cultivator, on account of the lateness of their flowering; and this circumstance, as has already been ob- 

 served, does not always imply a proportional lateness of foliage, their comparative merits in this respect 

 may be better seen, by bringing them into one view, as to the value of their early foliage. 



Tite apparent Difference Their nutritive The apparent Difference Their nutritive 



itfTime. Powers. of Time. Porvers. 



.<4griistis viilgkris - Middle of April - - 1'2| .i4grdstis nfvea - Three weeks later - - 'I 



paiustris - One week later - 2*3 littorhlis - Ditto ditto - - 3 



stolonlfera - Two ditto - - 3-2 ripens - Ditto ditto - - 3 



oanina - Ditto ditto - 1-3 mexic&na - Ditto ditto - - 2 



strtcta - Ditto ditto - 1-2 fascicularis . Ditto ditto . 2 



5763. Vdnicum sanguinale E. B. This species is strictly annual ; and from the results of this trial, its 

 nutritive powers appear to be very inconsiderable. 



5764. T/ie grasses which qjgTord the best culms for straw plait are, according to Sinclair, as follow : 



For heath or moor soil. Festiica OTina, duriUscula, and hot- Moist toils. Agr6sHs canina, fasciculhrls, canina miitica, 



deifiSrmls, AT^rdus stricta. stolonlfera angustifolia, stolonffera cristata, alba, gtricta. 



Dry soils. Cynosiirus cristatns, P6a angustifolia, Hdrdeum rejiens, P6a neraoral'S, angustifblia. 



prat^nse, Anthoxdnthum odorktum, ylnrdstis lobata, splca Cereal f;rasses. 'Wheat, spelt-wheat, rye, and oats have 



v^nti, flav^scens, and rulgkris miitica, .dvfena pub^scens, Fei- been sown on poor soils, and cut ffreen and bleached ; but are 



titca heterophylla. found inferior to the above passes for the finest plait. 



5765. The period for cutting the cidms is when they are in blossom. They are bleached by pouring 

 boiling water over them, in which they remain ten minutes, and are afterwards spread on a grass-plot for 

 seven or eight days. Sinclair found that by letting the culms remain in hot water from one to two hours, 

 only two or three days' bleaching was required. When bleached, they are taken up, washed clean, and put 

 in a moist state in a close vessel, where they are subjected to the fumes of burning sulphur for two hours. 

 Green culms, immersed for ten minutes in a strong solution of acetic acid, and then subjected to the sul- 

 phureous acid gas, are bleached perfectly white in half an hour. Green culms, immersed for fifteen 

 minutes in muriatic acid, diluted with twenty times its measure of water, and then spread on the grass, 

 became in four days as perfectly bleached as those culms which were scalded and bleached eight days on 

 the grass. The texture of the straw was not in the least injured by these processes. The application of 

 the sulphureous acid gas to the moistened culms, even after scalding and bleaching on the grass, had, in 

 every instance, the effect of greatly improving the colour, and that without being productive of the smallest 

 injury to the texture of the straw. {Hort. Gram. Woh. 2d edit. 427.) 



