^26 



\ 



Agrostis canimi, var. mutica* Awiiless Variety of Brown Bent. 



Trichodium caninum muizcum.^ (Scliracler.) Creeping-stalked Brown Bent. 



Specific character: Panicle branches subdivided, roughish ; corolla of one luisk, awnless 



Obs. — In the Flora Germanica, this grass is made a variety of the Agrostis canina of D - 

 Smith. '^ Trichodium caninum, \2iT. Jloribus omnibus muticis!' Flo. Ger. 198. It differ^ 

 but little from the Agrostis nivea, except in the want of the awns and the lenoth of the 

 culms. The structure varies almost imperceptibly in the Agrostis canina, Agrostis nivea 

 and in this species. The like gradual shades of difference may be perceived in the colour 

 of the plants : the canina is of a brownish green colour ; this awnless variety is of a pale 

 green; the nivea of a greenish straw colour. The knots or bundles of leaves attached to 

 the decumbent shoots, shew it to be connected with the Agrostis fascicularis , 



Experiments. — At the time of floweinng, the produce from a bog soil, is, 



dr. qr. 



oz. 



87120 



22 

 35 Of 



23958 



3 



Grass, 8 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 - 13 



The produce of the space, ditto - - 3 2 



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

 Grass, 9 oz. The produce per acre 

 80 dr. of grass weigh, when dry - - 34 

 The produce of the space, ditto - - Ql 0^ 



The weight lost by the produce of one acre in drying - - _ - _ . 3521 



64 dr. of grass afford of nutritive matter 



lbs. 



5445 



1497 6 



3947 10 



148 14 



98010 



6125 10 



41654 4 



2603 5 4 



4 12 



2 2 



V 



The produce of the space, ditto 



5 2 



% 



3828 8 



239 4 8 



It will have been remarked from the perusal of the foregoing statements, that the stoloniferous 

 grasses afford more nutritive matter at the time, and after the seed is ripe, than at the time of 



flowering. 



, 



) 



The decumbent stems, or runners, of the annexed specimen, furnished with tufts 

 of leaves at the joints, illustrate in some measure, the meaning of the term stoloniferous. Sir 

 Humphry Davy says, that the concrete sap stored up in the joints of these grasses, renders 

 them a good food, even in winter. The weight of nutritive matter contained in this grass, at 

 the time the seed is ripe, is superior to that afforded at the time'it is in flower, in the proportion ' 

 of 7 to 10. 



It is the most common grass on deep bogs, even where they are subject to be under water 

 for six months in the year. It is a diminutive plant, very unlike the produce of such soils ; the 

 leaves seldom attain to more than two or three inches in length. Hares crop the foliage in the 

 spring. The smallness of the produce, even when cultivated under the most favourable cir- 

 cumstances, affords a sufficient proof of its unworthiness to be regarded by the Farmer, in any 

 other light than that of a weed which indicates a soil capable of being improved so, as to pro- 

 duce the most valuable grasses by artificial irrigation. It may be propagated to any extent by 

 seeds, or by planting the stolones, or decumbent-rooting shoots. 



Flowers in tbp spf^nnrl unrl tliirrl ^7ir<it»lrQ ,^f T„1__ -, . , t i . .1. . „. ; J Jl_ _J? A,,^iiat 



