AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 21 



mountainous districts, where ordinary grasses would not 

 thrive. The peculiar value of the fioiin, and of other 

 grasses of the agrostis family, arises from their fitness for 

 winter 'pasture : as they lose very little of their bulk or nu- 

 triment by remaining in the soil after they have ceased to 

 gi'ow. Its name {creeping bent or couch gras^) implies a 

 difficulty in mowing it, except on a surface perfectly smooth. 

 We hav'e seen it recommended to the notice of American 

 farmers ; but from the very limited progress which seems to 

 have been made in its cultivation we infer that it has fallen 

 short of public expectation. 



Upright bent Grass. Dr. Muhlenburgh considers this the 

 herd's grass of the southern, and the foul meadow of the 

 eastern states, of which ivhite top and red top are var'eties. 

 This grass is more congenial to our climate than to that of 

 England. In any boggy soils, both varieties of this grass 

 have come in spontaneously, as soon as the ground has been 

 cleared and drained, have soon formed a compact sod, and 

 afforded good hay and good pasture. 



Flat-stalked Meadoio Grass. This, according to Muhlen- 

 burgh, is the blue grass, which is considered as a pest in 

 many of our tillage grounds. The small crop which it gives, 

 and the little nutritive matter which this affords, shows the 

 little dependence which ought to be placed on it for grazing, 

 or for hay. 



Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass is a native plant, and is well 

 adapted for permanent pastures. It grows quick after being 

 cropped, and does well upon dry ground. 



Floating Fescue grows well in swamps and bog soils, where 

 good kinds are most wanted. 



I would suggest, with much deference, whether grasses 

 may not be divided, for the practical benefit of the farmer, 

 into three kinds, to wit : Cultivated grasses. All kinds, 

 strictly speaking, which the soil does not produce sponta- 

 neously, are cultivated grasses. Cut the term as generally 

 used, and in the sense I here employ it, applies only to such 

 as are sown to alternate with grain, pulse, and roots, in a 

 systematic rotation of crops. The grasses selected for this 

 purpose are, generally, the red clovers, lucerne, sain foin, 

 orchard, tall oat, timothy, cr rye grass. Clover is the pri- 

 mary dependence on all soils which will grow it, and espe- 

 cially where gypsum can exercise its magic powers. As 

 vegetables are said to exhaust the soil in proportion to the 

 smallness of their leaves, (the larger the leaves the more 



