VARIETIES CULTIVATED. 207 



or grass for two or more 'successive seasons. For such 

 cases the seeds should be obtained from plants of at least 

 two years' standing, by which means the produce is of 

 more permanent duration than that of seed saved from 

 the crop of the first season; indeed, so much does the 

 duration of ryegrass depend on the previous manner 

 adopted in saving the seed, that it is the produce of seeds 

 saved successively from the first year's crop which con- 

 stitutes the " annual ryegrass" a variety which, from the 

 comparative shortness of its duration, is generally so 

 termed. This annual ryegrass differs from the more 

 permanent varieties by having fewer root-leaves and a 

 greater quantity of culms or stalks, which are rather 

 longer, and furnished with a smaller proportion of foliage, 

 than those of most of the perennial varieties. From the 

 quantity and length of its stalks or culms, this sort has 

 been considered as yielding a greater bulk of crop the 

 first season, and therefore better adapted for single crops 

 of hay than the perennial sorts; but the result of recent 

 experiments tends to show that the quantity of root and 

 stalk-leaves which these last produce fully compensates 

 for any deficiency which may arise from the weight of 

 their culms, besides rendering the hay less wiry and more 

 palatable than that of the annual ryegrass, which, in fact, 

 seems to possess no superior quality, save perhaps that 

 it yields a greater quantity of seed. 



Evergreen. This variety is much esteemed in some 

 districts, its perennial nature, hardy habit, and produc- 

 tive character, rendering it a favourite with many growers. 



Holies variety is also a favourite in some places. It is 

 rather of a slender habit of growth, reaches a good height, 

 and gives a very bulky crop. 



Orkney or Pollexfen's variety takes its distinctive name 

 from its introducer, Mr. Pollexfen, of Kirkwall, Orkney, 

 who for many years devoted much attention to ryegrass, 



