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Synonym. Aira csespitosa, Linn., the name under which it will be 

 found in Mueller's Census. 



Vernacular name. " Tufted Hair Grass" is a name under which 

 it is known in England and the United States, and as we have not 

 fixed on a name we may perhaps follow the above designation. 



Where figured. Buchanan; Agricultural Gazette; Hackel (sec. fig.) 

 Trinius, as Aira csespitosa. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 587). A tall perennial, forming 

 large dense tufts. 



Leaves stiff, narrow, usually rough on the upper surface, flat or convolute when dry. 



Stems attaining 2 to 4 feet, although sometimes much shorter. 



Panicle 4 inches to near 1 foot long ; at first rather dense, spreading with capillary 



branches when fully out. 

 Outer glumes 1^ to near 2 lines long, the jloivering ones not exceeding them ; truncate 



and 4-toothed ; the awns very slender, scarcely or not at all twisted at the base, 



and usually shorter than the glumes themselves. 



Value as a fodder. This is one of the tussocky grasses, and is not 

 of high forage value in fact, in many English works on the subject 

 careful directions are given to show how the grass may be got rid of. 

 We may bear in mind that English meadows are of a different 

 character to our own, and some even of our nutritious tussocky grasses 

 would not be appreciated because of their appearance alone. 



For instance, Sinclair, Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, says : " The 

 above details prove the innutritions nature of this grass ; but even if 

 it had greater nutritive powers, the extreme coarseness of the foliage 

 would render it unfit for cultivation. Cattle sometimes crop the ends 

 of the young leaves, but in all the instances that have come under my 

 observation it appeared to be from supreme necessity. The only 

 point to be considered here, therefore, is how to overcome or destroy 

 it on soils where it has got possession. It delights in the most clayey 

 soils, where the water stagnates, but is found in almost every kind 

 of soil, from the dry sandy heath to the bog." 



Again, Sowerby, English Botany : "This grass, according to Parnell, 

 has a most unsightly appearance in meadow-pastures and parks, as it 

 grows into large tufts, and forms irregularities on the surface which 

 are termed by farmers ' rough cups' or ( hossacks,' and are difficult to 

 get rid of. From the extreme roughness and coarseness of the leaves, 

 cattle ssldom touch it ; and, as it contains little nutritious matter, it is 

 not worth the attention of the agriculturist. It is a sure indication, 

 wherever found on the farm, that the land wants under-draining, 

 without which no cutting it out will destroy it ; but the efficiency of 

 the drainage, where it occurs, is seen by its dying away and scatter- 

 ing the fields with its turned up rough branches of dried leaves." 



Dr. George Yasey, however, speaking of it in the United States, 

 says : ' ' It is one of the common bunch grasses which afford pasturage 

 to cattle and horses. It grows in bunches, which are firmly rooted. 

 Its culms are too light for hay-making, but the abundant root-leaves 

 may make it valuable for pasturage, especially in the arid districts/' 



"In several very wet places in the Eocky Mountains, U.S.A., we 

 saw forms of this grass which produced a great bulk of hay of fair 

 quality." (Rydberg and Shear.) 



