316 



Wood meadow-grass, CPoa nemoraUs) 



and 



spring herbage is likewise very nutritive, and produced in considerable quantit 



very 



springs early; the 



The after- 



■ 



■6 



(Poa compressa) 



^* y will 



to vegetate from spring till autumn; but its deficiency, with regard to weight of pr d 

 out of the question for the purpose of alternate cropping. 



continues 

 uce, puts it 



Darnel-like fescue, fFestuca loliacea). This grass possesses all the valuable 



e properties of 



%e-grass, and few of its defects. ' It would, doubtless, be the best substitute for that 

 alternate cropping -, but, unfortunately, it does not perfect a sufficiency of seed. ^^^^^^ '" 



Cock's-foot, (Dactylis glomerata), though not possessing every excellence in a degree supe- 

 rior to those species now mentioned, for the Alternate Husbandry, nevertheless, it appears h 

 a greater variety of merits for this purpose, than almost any other grass. It 'soon arriVes It Zl 

 turity • it bears cropping well, is very productive, and its nutritive powers are considerable It 

 IS much less impoverishing to the soil than Rye-grass, and when ploughed in, affords a greater 

 quantity of vegetable matter to the soil. It has been objected to Cock's-foot, that it rises in 

 tnfts, and is apt to become coarse. But the objections will apply to every grass that is not 

 sown sufficiently ; thick to occupy, with plants, every spot of the ground, and that is not after- 

 wards sufficiently stocked to keep the surface in a succession of young leaves. It is the prac 

 tice of thin sowing and the strong reproductive powers of the plant, that occasions it to appear 

 a hassocky grass. If one species only is therefore thought preferable to several, in the Alternate 

 Husbandry, there is scarcely a species to be preferred to the Bactylis glomerata. But with 

 respect to an early and certain supply of the most nutritious herbage throughout the season, it 

 will be ound a vain labour to look for it in one species of grass, but only where Nature has 

 provided It, m a combination of many. It will likewise be found, that the Dactylis glomerata 

 from Its more numerous merits, should constitute three parts of a mixture of grasses adapted foi' 

 the purposes of the Alternate Husbandry. The different" species most proper to combL with 



cient F r " " ^""" " ' ^"^'^^ ^'^^'^ *^^ P-P-t- «f -^-h tl^- grass is defi- 

 cient. For this purpose, none appear better fitted than the Festuca duriuscula, Poa trivialis 



J^s avenaceus, Phleum pratense, Loliun. per.^ne, and White Clover, which should be in a 



mailer proportion. A combination thus formed, of three parts Cock's-foot, and one part of 



ttrX" '"* ""''"''' "'' "^^^^ *'^ ^^^^* P^«^-*-^ -d -^^^ P-*-^ - ^terna- 

 K>" with gram crops on sods of the best quality; and even on soils of an inferior nature, under 



Id wouTdh"" . ""^^^^"-^1^ --o-^ will afford nutritive herbage, when otherwise the 

 W would have been comparatively devoid of it, if one species of grass only had been em- 



/ 



/ 



J^mis. 



■■ ■». ■ 



li- 



4 



^ndoa. Printed by R M'Milha, Bow.St«et. Covent- 



Gwden, Printer to Hi. B. a th« Prince Reg.^4. 



