CHAP. I. PERENNIAL RYE GRASS. 915 



The RYE GRASSES (Lolium) are very extensively cultivated. .Peren- 

 nial rye-grass (Lolium perenne, L.) is the most abundant species of grass 

 in rich old English pastures, and in laying land down to permanent grass 

 it should always be included, the proportions varying according to 

 circumstances. Italian rye-grass (Lolium Italicum, A.Br.) is not a 

 grass of permanent pasture, but is profitably included in mixtures for 

 one or two years' leys, and thrives remarkably well upon sewage- dressed 

 lands. 



PERENNIAL RYE GRASS (Lolium perenne, L.) can scarcely be mis- 

 taken for any other species. The flattened ear (fig. 416) looks almost as 

 if it had been passed through a press. The spikelets, free from stalks, 

 are given off alternately on either side of the stem, to which they are 

 attached edgewise. Each spikelet has only one empty glume, the 

 place of the other being, in effect, occupied by the adjacent portion of 

 the stem or axis. The glossy dark green leaves of rye-grass glisten 

 conspicuously in the sunlight. A prominent mid-rib extends along 

 the back of each leaf, and as the leaf is traced downwards into its 

 sheath it is found to be doubled on itself like the contiguous faces of a 

 sheet of note-paper. Moreover, the leaf-sheaths are seen to be dis- 

 tinctly flattened or compressed, and frequently to possess a reddish or 

 purplish tinge. By the foregoing characters rye-grass, before it is in 

 ear, can easily be distinguished from meadow fescue grass, the leaf of 

 which has no prominent mid-rib, and is not doubled upon itself, nor 

 are the leaf-sheaths compressed, but round. The flattened leaf-sheaths 

 of rye-grass enable it to accommodate itself readily to the treading of 

 live stock, and even to thrive under the hoofs of animals, and this may 

 be one reason for the great abundance of perennial rye-grass in well- 

 grazed pastures. Rye-grass is likely to be found wherever the soil is 

 rich enough to grow it. Hence, it commonly grows amongst the 

 herbage of road sides, where the soil is enriched with the washings 

 and the scrapings from the surface of the road. 



Sometimes extolled, at other times depreciated beyond measure, 

 rye-grass is nevertheless one of the most valuable plants of our grass 

 lands. It is not of tall growth, and is rather an "under grass," or 

 bottom grass, than an "over grass, or top grass," to adopt the German 

 phraseology. In clay-land pastures it is invaluable, and its seed is 

 included in large proportion in mixtures intended for the establishment 

 of rich pastures upon the alluvial flats of North Germany, where, 

 indeed, experienced cultivators often sow, with this object, nothing but 

 rye-grass and a little white clover. The duration of rye-grass varies a 

 good deal, says Stebler, according to soil and climate ; in light soils 

 and under a dry sky it remains only a couple of years, whilst in a good 

 stiff soil and a moist climate it persists seven years or more. It is 

 under the latter conditions that it thrives in Britain. 



Rye-grass tillers, or stools out, very freely, and forms a thick close 

 sward. It easily supports frequent grazing or pulling by hand. 

 Trampling or treading does it no harm, but rather enhances its useful 

 propensity to tiller ; this is the reason it gives better results as a 



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