'^ 



156 



Experiments.- At the time of flowering, the produce from a sandy soil, is. 



dr. qr. 



oz. 



Grass, 4 oz. The produce per acre 



80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry 



The produce of the space, ditto 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre In drying 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 



43560 



20 

 16 



10890 



lbs. 



2722 8 

 680 10 



2041 14 



The 



2 

 2 



1361 4 



85 1 4 



At the time the seed is ripe, the produce is. 



Grass, 6 oz. The produce per acre 

 80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry 



The produce of the space, ditto 



28 

 33 21 



65340 

 22869 



4083 12 



1429 







The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying 

 64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 



2654 7 



3 



3 



3828 8 



5 n 



239 4 



Its 



The produce of the space, ditto 



The produce of latter-math is only 2 oz. ; a quantity so trifling, as to preclude the necessity 



of any farther notice. 



In old pastures, on light soils, this Bent may he readily distinguished in the autumn by i 

 shoots, which are furnished with leaves in tufts or bundles, that generally run along on the sur- 

 face of the rest of the herbage, and is occasioned, apparently, by the cattle, which eat the other 

 herbage, and leave the scattered shoots of the tufted-leaved Bent untouched. It is a very com- 

 mon grass on poor, light, but moist soils, incumbent on clay, that have long been under pasture. 

 This and the Woolly Soft-grass, in some parts of the country, are termed winter-fog. 



From the above details, it will appear to be the least valuable of the Bent-grasses that have 

 been mentioned. The cultivation of a grass of this value is out of the question; the poiutof 

 most importance to be ascertained respecting it is, how to remove it from the soil, and to substi- 

 tute more valuable grasses in its place, I have witnessed the beneficial eiFects of coal-ashes as a 



\ 



top-dressing, when spread on the pasture in sufficient quantity; they appear to act in the manner 

 of a surface-drain, by preventing the water from stagnating or remaining too long on the surface 

 of the soil during wet weather in the end of autumn, during winter, and in the early part of 

 the spring, which the retentive subsoil causes ; a circumstance most favourable to the gro^vth of 

 this grass, but highly injurious to the superior grasses. The ashes thus favouring the growth of 

 the superior grasses, and being closely ci'opped by the cattle, which now find the pasture more 

 palatable, the tufted Bent disappears; it will, however, be found by no means destroyed, but 

 only checked in its growth. A few turfs being taken from a sward thus treated, where the Bent 

 had disappeared in the manner now described, were placed under circumstances similar to their 

 former state, and left uncropped till autumn, at which time the tufted Bent re-appeared in all its 

 former vigour and abundance. 



Flowers in the first and second weeks of August, and ripens the seed in the end of the same 

 month, 



Aira flexuosup 



Zig-zag Hair-grass, Waved Hair-orass. 



Specific character : Leaves like bristles, panicle spreading; florets scarcely longer than the 

 calyx ; awn jointed, longer than the calyx. 



