CLASSIFICATION. 105 



West Indies. In August the florets open, and the seed 

 is ripe in September. It is a hard, coarse grass, of no 

 agricultural use; but Mr. Sinclair retails some good 

 properties possessed by the seed which secures its culti- 

 vation in Germany. It ripens seed in abundance, but 

 the birds are so fond of it, that it is necessary to protect 

 it with nets when grown for commercial purposes. The 

 seed, when ripe, is collected in a hair-sieve, at sunrise, 

 then spread on a sheet, and dried in the sun for a fort- 

 night ; then it is put into a large vessel with layers of 

 straw between the layers of seed, and beaten with a 

 pestle until the chaff is detached from the seed. After 

 this it is poured into a wooden trough, with dried Mari- 

 gold flowers, Apple, and Hazel leaves, and again beaten 

 till it becomes bright and glossy ; it is finally winnowed, 

 and thus cleansed from all chaff and rubbish. Mr. Sin- 

 clair tells us that the Marigold flowers are added to 

 impart a golden tint. A bushel of seed with the chaff 

 attached yields only an eighth part of clean seed. The 

 grain thus prepared, when boiled in milk, makes a dish 

 resembling sago. 



This grass is generally stigmatized as a useless weed, 

 but Mr. Sinclair, ever intent on developing the good 

 qualities of the grass family, wins our respect for it by 

 making known its possible utility. Mr. Loudon follows 

 his lead, and claims the same honour for it in Poland. 

 He adds a less attractive use to which it is applied by 

 those ingenious misappliers of nature's gifts, boys. In 

 some parts of Germany, according to his account, boys 

 prick each other's noses with its sharp spikes until they 

 bleed ; to this use or rather abuse, he traces its specific 

 name, sanguinale. 



The hairiness of the plant is very variable. Dr. Par- 



