THE RYEGRASS CROP. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the Grasses of themselves constitute, 

 perhaps, the largest portion of our forage crops, none, with 

 the single exception of RYEGRASS, is of sufficient value 

 singly to form the subject of a special cultivation for that 

 purpose. This valuable addition to our " Farm Crops/' 

 although known to our agriculture for the last two cen- 

 turies, has only at a comparatively recent period attracted 

 attention, as being a plant admirably suited, both in its 

 speedy growth and large returns, to the requirements of 

 our improved system of farming. 



Although we find some members of the genus to which 

 ryegrass belongs mentioned in the ancient authors, they 

 were only noticed as noxious weeds, detrimental both to 

 the farmer and to those who partook of the crops with 

 which they were mixed. The Lolium album et rubrum 

 are specified, and are probably those referred to by Ovid 

 in his first book, Fastorum, 1 as affecting the eyes, causing 

 dimness of sight, and other unpleasant effects', to persons 

 eating bread made of corn in which they were mixed. 

 Dioscorides and Galen, in speaking of the Lolium (then 

 termed utpa), attribute noxious properties to it an opinion 

 which has been handed down to our own times, and at- 

 tached to one particular species, the common darnel (L. 

 temulentum), which is a weed frequently met with in 

 corn fields, ripening its seed about the same period as 

 wheat, and as frequently found mixed up with it in badly- 

 dressed samples, especially of imported grain. 



1 "Efc careant loliis oculos vitiantibus agri." 



