No. 4.] MANAGEMEiYI OF MOWINGS. 363 



lledlop. — Redtop, next to timothy, is our best-known 

 grass. It reaches its most luxuriant development on deep, 

 rich soils, and the best redtop that the author has ever seen 

 in any part of Massachusetts was produced on the reclaimed 

 salt marshes in the town of Marshfield. Redtop is a sod- 

 forming grass, but the vigor of its underground stems is 

 considerablj^ less than that of some other species. Close 

 observation has shown that redtop is capable of doing better 

 in soils containing free acid than most other species. Under 

 ordinary conditions it is persistent. It will endure grazing 

 much better than timothy. It starts slowly after having 

 been cut, and usually produces very little rowen. 



Rhode Island Bent and White Bent. — These species are 

 very closely allied to redtop, and have the same general 

 habit of growth. Indeed, it ma}^ be doubted whether there 

 is a well-defined dividing line, based upon distinctions of 

 practical importance, between these three species. There 

 are doubtless differences which are sufficiently clear to the 

 botanist ; but it is at any rate true that the product from 

 commercial samples of seed grown in plots side hy side is so 

 nearly alike in the case of these three species that so great 

 an authority as Pi'ofessor Lamson-Scribner, formerly agros- 

 tologist of the Department of Agriculture in Washington, 

 has frankly admitted to the writer that he could distinguish 

 no well-defined difference betAveen them. It would seem, 

 therefore, that, as the seed of redtop is more generally kept 

 and better known, it must be uuAvise to purchase seeds of 

 these other species which are less certain to be of good qual- 

 ity, and which are as a rule sold at higher prices. 



On-liard Grass. — This is one of the best known among 

 the less common grasses. It is a large, coarse species, and 

 is one of the earliest to come into bloom. It has the very 

 bad habit of growing in tufts, and is characterized l)y the 

 production of a very heavy growth of foliage starting from 

 the ground, and a relatively light production of stalk and 

 seed. It is called orchard o-rass, not because it will otow 

 better in the shade than when fully exposed to the sunshine, 

 but liecause it will do better in the shade than most other 

 grasses. If it can be established in light soils it will do bet- 



