900 



THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. 



grass of moderate size, with flat rich green leaves, and a nodding panicle 

 turned to one side. Tall fescue (fig. 384) is larger and more robust, 

 often attaining a height of six feet, and found naturally on the borders 

 of water-courses. Its " seed " is shown in fig. 385. Spiked fescue is 

 a more slender plant than meadow fescue, and in its panicle (fig. 386) 

 the spikelets are either without stalks, or have only short ones, thus 

 conferring upon the ear some external resemblance to the ear of rye 

 grass, whence the specific name of " loliacea." The " seeds" of meadow 

 fescue and rye grass are so much alike in appearance that it requires 

 some skill and special knowledge to distinguish the one from the other. 

 If, however, the reader will obtain some genuine meadow fescue seed 

 and some true rye grass seed and examine a specimen of each with 



Nat. size. 



Fig. 385. "Seed" of Fes- 

 tuca elatior (Tall Fescue). 



Front and side view, 

 magnified 6 diameters. 



Fig. 386. Spiked Fescue. 



Festuca loliacea. 



the aid of a magnifying glass, he will not have much difficulty in 

 learning their peculiarities, provided he will regard the following 

 instructions : Lay the " seed " of meadow fescue (fig. 388) on its 

 back, so that the concave or hollowed-out face is brought into view, and 

 it will be noticed that the basal end of the concavity is occupied by a 

 short length of the flower stalk. Precisely the same thing will be 

 revealed in a similar examination of a " seed " of rye grass. The short 

 length of stalk, however, differs markedly in the two seeds, and it is in 

 these differences that the most readily available distinction between 

 meadow fescue and rye grass is to be found. For, on comparing 

 the two, it is observed that in meadow fescue the fragment of stalk 

 is usually longer, slightly separated lengthwise from the pale, circular 

 in transverse section, somewhat attenuated in the middle and thickened 

 at the free end. In rye grass, on the other hand, the corresponding 

 structure is usually shorter, closely applied to the pale, elliptical in 

 transverse section, and of uniform thickness throughout its length. A 

 little practice will soon enable a careful observer to detect the presence 

 of rye grass in any appreciable quantity in a sample offered as meadow 



