72 Hxperimental Culture of Italian Rye Grass. 
sterling. One firm alone, Marshall's of Leeds, purchase 
Flax to the extent of £1,000,000 sterling annually. 
VII. Laperimental Culture of Italian Rye Grass at New 
Norfolk, with Table of Results. By Joun MEYER, 
fisg.. M.D. [Read 8th October, 1851.] 
» 
Tue Italian Rye Grass has been successfully cultivated here 
upon a loamy soil over a clay subsoil, well manured and dug 
with the spade. The seed should in the first instance be sown 
in liberal quantities, probably 83 bushels to the acre; the 
Grass should make its appearance thick, so as to cover the 
ground well from the first, as it does not spread like most of 
the English grasses. I have found that it does not suc- 
ceed well in low ground, (which is always more exposed to 
frosts), nor where the subsoil is gravel: warmth and moisture 
are necessary to secure good and frequent crops. The ground 
within the walls of the Asylum, which is sheltered during the 
winter months, with power of irrigation throughout the year, 
seems peculiarly adapted to its growth. The seed may be 
sown from April to June ; May is, perhaps, the best month. 
Sown here on 30th April, 1849, the following dates show 
how often it has been cut since :—15th June, 8th September, 
12th December, 1849; 4th March, 18th April, 24th June, 
1850. 
With regard to quantity ;—at one cutting of 10 rods, the 
weight of Grass per acre amounted to 18 tons 7 cwt., and later 
in the year the same piece of ground produced at the rate of 
8 tons 15 cwt. per acre. In nine months, from 8th October, 
1850, to 8th July, 1851, the quantity cut from about 87 rods 
of ground was at the rate of 56 tons 18 cwt. per acre. 
