890 Transactions.—~ Botany. 
grows from 2 to 8 feet high, and will grow on lands that other grasses 
cannot thrive upon. 
Avena elatior.—This grass grows through the spring and autumn most 
strongly; and as stock appear to select it in preference to rye, and as, 
upon analysis, it is found to contain a fair proportion of easily assimilable 
elements, it should be sown in mixed pastures. It may be sown both in 
the northern and southern districts ; provided the soil is not too dry, it will 
succeed as a good useful grass. 
Melilotus leucantha, or Bokhara clover, is a hardy biennial, growing 
8 feet high, and yielding an enormous quantity of herbage for hay or fodder. 
All stock eat it readily ; but it should not be sown too thinly, as it then 
grows much higher and the stalks become woody, and the stock do not 
relish it so much. As it is only a biennial, it is best for alternate husbandry. 
Symphytum asperrimum, the prickly comfrey, still continues to grow and 
yields plenty of leaves from the roots before described. All kinds of stock 
like, and thrive upon it, 
Sorghum vulgare is a splendid grass, which, under different local names 
and in different varieties, is now engaging a very large amount of attention. 
As I have obtained and grown these several varieties of Sorghum, and tested 
their powers and merits, I will give the result of my experience :—From 
California, Egypt, India, Southern Europe, and elsewhere, I obtained seeds 
of these Sorghums, and found that those obtained from warmer climates 
than this were delicate at first, and took some trouble to get them to perfect 
their seed, but that, by the second or third sowing, the acclimatization had 
so far progressed that the germination commenced in the open ground the 
first warm weather in October, and continued to grow during the summer, 
and perfected seed during autumn, in some varieties giving two crops of 
seed, the first heads being gathered as soon as ripe, and the second then 
ripening faster, The varieties that seem to do best in this climate are 
hereafter described by the local names that they are generally known by 
in other countries. 
The Egyptian Corn is a brown-seeded Sorghum, now much cultivated, 
with heads drooping downwards, and that grows very rapidly, producing 
an immense quantity of succulent stems and foliage that makes an excellent 
food for animals, which, eut green, will yield many tons of fodder to the acre, 
and will, if allowed to ripen its seed, yield a larger weight of corn than most 
other plants to the acre, having in several instances given over 10lbs. to 
each plant, or 100 bushels of cleaned grain nett per acre. This grain is 
eaten by animals, and in Egypt and India by men, cooked and eaten in 
various ways. . 
The Durra, or Doura, is a white-seeded Sorghum, whose seed-heads droop 
downwards, which is rather less hardy than the brown-seeded variety, but 
