INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC GRASSES. 67 



from the culms of Poa pratensis, and received a prize for 

 it from the London Society of Arts. Then a Bucking- 

 hamshire lady made one of the culms of the Cynosurus 

 cristatus, and it obtained the Society's medal. Mr. 

 Sinclair sowed the seeds of the Leghorn straw-plant 

 (Triticum Spelta), but he could not get straw from them 

 as tine as the imported kind. Mr. Cobbett made the 

 same essay, but his straw was too coarse for Leghorn 

 plait. Afterwards they ascertained that the quality of 

 the straw depended on a culture not attainable in this 

 climate. 



In Italy the wheat cultivated for this purpose is not 

 allowed to perfect its first culms; these are eaten down 

 by cattle, and then the second culms spring in great 

 numbers but are of a much weaker and more slender 

 growth. Of course in our northern clime if well-grown 

 culms were eaten down there would be no chance of 

 perfecting a second crop. Mr. Cobbett tried the same 

 experiment with oat straw, but that, like the wheat, was 

 too coarse for superior work. 



There are many of our British grasses which are de- 

 monstrated by Mr. Sinclair to be much better fitted for 

 this purpose than the straw of cereals. The culms of the 

 Cynosurus cristatus are very fine and tough. They 

 should be gathered before the seed is ripe or earlier, 

 though never before the flower is fully opened, then put 

 into boiling water for ten minutes, afterwards bleached 

 for eight days, or placed in boiling water for an hour, 

 then spread and kept moist for two days and finally put 

 into a close vessel, and subjected to the fumes of sul- 

 phur for half an hour. A shorter way of preparation 

 also prescribed by Mr. Sinclair, is to immerse them in a 

 strong solution of acetic acid and then to subject them 



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