AN INTELLIGENT JURY. 105 



a very close examination at the time, I pronounced it 

 the Bromus arvensis, which, at that stage of its growth, 

 it very much resembles. A few days after, I was aston- 

 ished to see it develop into Chess (Bromus secalinus). 

 This was the first ripe specimen of Willard's bromus I 

 had seen. I examined it with care, and, to avoid the 

 possibility of a mistake, I submitted specimens of it to 

 Professor Gray, of Cambridge, and to Professor Dewey, 

 of Rochester, New York, both of whom, after examina- 

 tion, pronounced it genuine chess. 



But Mr. Willard having quoted from the report of a 

 committee of an agricultural society, in which it was 

 said that if a " jury of cows should confirm the opinion 

 of Mr. Willard as to the superiority of the grass, then 

 will the agricultural community owe him a debt of grat- 

 itude for' having introduced to notice here a species of 

 grass which is highly beneficial on light, sandy soils, 

 much superior to any other species, and producing most 

 abundantly on land of better quality," I directed it to 

 be submitted to such a jury, which unhesitatingly pro- 

 nounced a verdict in accordance with the facts, which 

 were as follows : 



The grass which was first submitted for comparison 

 with the bromus was the reed canary grass (Phalaris 

 arundinacea), a grass of very slight nutritive and pal- 

 atable qualities. The upland or English hay used was 

 such as commonly goes by that name among farmers, 

 made up of Timothy and redtop mainly, of fair quality. 

 The meadow or swale hay was taken from a wet mead- 

 ow, and composed of coarse, swale grasses or sedges, 

 such as are common in New England, and pass under 

 the term of " meadow hay." The bromus was carefully 

 picked out from all other grasses. The two kinds given 

 in each trial were put into the same crib, but separated 

 by a partition. 



