46 BRITISH GRASSES. 



yield their testimony to their merit. Gay borrows their 

 charms for his description : — 



" When the fresh grass in all her state is crowned, 

 And high luxuriant grass o'erspreads the ground, 

 And labourer, with bending scythe is seen 

 Shaving the surface of the weaving green." 



Nor does the antique Spenser neglect the theme : — 



il "Ne did he leave the mountains bare unseen, 

 Nor the rank grassy fens' delights untryed." 



Here we have two different kinds of natural pastures 

 described by poets, and agriculturists would multiply 

 the varieties sevenfold. Early in the eighteenth century 

 men began to distinguish grasses by their qualities, and 

 to prefer one to another. But agriculturists were want- 

 ing in intelligence and enterprise, and continued to re- 

 gard all the green covering of meadow and pasture as 

 " grass" in general, except in the rare instances of in- 

 telligence where observation was aw r akened. In 1766 

 a stimulus was given towards the observation and cul- 

 tivation of the natural British grasses by the London 

 Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, 

 and Commerce, who advertised a prize or prizes for 

 " gathering by the hand the seeds of Meadow Foxtail, 

 Meadow Fescue, and Sweet Vernal -grass." This wise 

 measure was followed by a due portion of success, in the 

 awakened interest of agriculturists ; and the same bene- 

 ficent Society followed up its first effort by a second in 

 1769, which offered a gold medal to the person who 

 should give the most satisfactory account of the various 

 properties and comparative value of any two or more 

 natural grasses. In 1822 a new and important era set 

 in for the grass family. The Duke of Bedford turned 



