58 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOKAEY PASTUEES. 



is already in the soil, a starved crop of Rye Grass may give the 

 couch ail opportunity of asserting itself. Still the tendency of a 

 well-fed and frequently cut crop of Italian always favours the 

 destruction of twitch. 



Italian Rye Grass is very commonly sown with Broad Clover, 

 and in composite mixtures for alternate husbandry. It may also 

 be used with Avena elatior when a more durable crop is wanted 

 than can be obtained from Italian Rye Grass only. But the 

 most profitable way of growing it is alone, because the crop can 

 then be cut before any of the stalks become hard and lose their 

 nutritious qualities. The seed may be sown at any time from 

 spring to autumn. The usual months are February, March, 

 September, and October, and the quantity three bushels per acre. 

 The plant is rolled in spring, the crop is cut frequently, and the 

 land broken up in the following spring twelvemonth. Many 

 farmers make it a rule to sow in October, and on warm moist 

 soils crops have sometimes been cut at Christmas, and again in 

 the following April. Such experience, however, is exceptional, 

 but it proves the endurance and fertility of the plant. 



There is another reason wh}^ Italian Rye Grass should not be 

 allowed to grow old. It is so extremely succulent that in warm 

 thundery weather there is a risk of the roots beginning to rot. 

 On this account a very bulky crop cannot, in a hot, damp 

 summer, be safely left for seed. 



The botanical description and chemical analysis of Sutton's 

 Italian Rye Grass are given on page 154, facing an illustration. 



Lolium vulgare, vel annuum {Common, or Ammal Eye 

 Grass). — The seed of this plant is larger and flatter than the 

 Perennial and Italian varieties. It is almost as broad as the seed 

 of Bromus mollis, but is lighter and lacks the awn. The plant is 

 not so well known as it deserves to be, for it possesses valuable 

 properties, yielding a good bulk of nourishing herbage of a light 

 green colour, and sending up a dense mass of flowering culms. 

 The roots are small, and there is a general concurrence of oi)inion 



