514 BRITISH GRASSES. 
116. The number now given in botanical books is about 130; 
the number in the last edition of the London Catalogue is 117, 
and the excluded species are 15; so the number of British 
Grasses may be reckoned to be as is presumed by the above 
estimate. But as Dr. Lindley’s estimate was made above twenty 
years ago, when the number of phznogamous plants known was 
believed to be about 40,000, at the present time it should be 
doubled at least, since above 80,000 plants are now known. Mr. 
Moore’s treatise does not profess to enumerate, describe, and give 
specimens of all the British species, but only of such as are valu- 
able as pasture or fodder Grasses. On the recto page there is a 
dried specimen of one or two Grasses, and on the obverse there is 
a plain description of the species, whether there be one or two, 
with an account of its localities, habit, utility, cultivation, varie- 
ties, ete. 
Prefixed to the descriptions and examples of these Grasses 
there are tables, which show the kinds and quantities of seeds 
requisite for sowing an acre, either for mowing or for pasture, 
also for one or for several years. Farmers will be generally able 
to judge, by experience, what quantity of seeds should be sown 
to ensure a crop; but it is submitted both to the practical agri- 
culturist and to the compiler of these ¢adles, that if 9 lbs. of 
Rye-Grass be sufficient for one year’s hay and two years’ pasture, 
then 12 lbs. will be too much for one year’s hay; or, again, if 
12 lbs. be necessary to ensure a good crop of hay for one year, 
9 Ibs. will afford a less crop for one year’s hay and two years’ 
pasture. During the second and third years the land will get 
many adventitious plants to fill up the voids left by the use of a 
less portion of seed, but the first year’s hay will surely be less 
abundant than if the full quantity was used, whether the land was 
to be broken up for wheat after the seeds, or whether the field 
was to be pastured for two years. 
It has been matter of surprise, to the writer of this, to observe 
the pertinacity with which farmers cling to the Rye-Grass (Ray- 
Grass). There are more succulent and leafy Grasses than this, 
but Rye-Grass has been sown from time immemorial, and is 
consequently not easily supplanted in popular estimation. Once, 
when botanizing on the dry chalky hills opposite Rochester, in 
Kent, there were observed some fields at a considerable elevation, 
which had been sown with seeds, and among these the Meadow 
