64 GRAMINEE. 
onions, or tubers like the potato, if these obstruct their path. Mr. Maiden 
‘quotes a correspondent as stating that the rhizomes were found thirty feet 
below ground by men digging a well. This is quite likely if someone had 
placed them there beforehand, or if they had fallen down the well shaft, 
but not otherwise. The statement is, in fact, based on as secure founda- 
tion as the equally exaggerated ones current in regard to the depth of pene- 
tration of the roots of St. John’s Wort and other herbaceous weeds. 
Two of the Bent Grasses (which are useful introduced pasture plants), 
often become somewhat troublesome in cultivated land, owing to their 
creeping rhizomes. They are, however, more slender, and less troublesome 
than Couch Grass, and have delicate branching heads of flowers. 
Agrostis vulgaris, With., is the ordinary Bent Grass. 
A. alba, L., is the Marsh Bent Grass or Fiorin. 
The former is useful as an aid in reclaiming sandy soils; the latter is 
of special use for peaty, undrained, and rather wet soils. 
Avena fatua, L. Wild Oat. A native of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
A common annual weed among cereal crops, resembling oats, but readily 
distinguished by the brown hairs on the flowering glume enclosing the grain, 
and on its stalk. The seed are often present in impure grain samples, and 
once the plant gets in, it ripens and sheds its seed before the crop is ready 
to cut. The seed may last two or three years when deeply buried, but if 
near the surface usually germinate within one year. Its introduction should 
be avoided by the use of clean seed, and it may be suppressed by the aid 
of a well-cultivated root crop. If the land is very foul, it may be advis- 
able to fallow and stir it for one season, destroying seedlings as often as 
they germinate in any quantity after rain, and to follow with a root crop 
or leafy fodder crop before grain is again sown. A hay crop cut early 
before. flowering, also helps to suppress the weed. The plant was origin- 
ally introduced with impure seed grain, and has spread and increased 
through neglect and continuous grain cultivation. Rotation farming aids 
greatly in suppressing it. Sometimes grown as a fodder plant ! 
Bromus. Several annual and biennial, or almost perennial, Brome 
grasses grow abundantly in Victoria, both as native and as introduced 
plants, and in pastures as well as in cultivated land. None of the species 
are good fodder plants, and most are troublesome weeds, whose seeds are 
widely distributed with impure seed of grasses and cereals. Once estab- 
lished, they are difficult to suppress, since the seeds ripen early, may pass 
through manure uninjured, and may retain their vitality for some years in 
the soil. 
B. sterilis, L., the Sterile Brome Grass, a native of Europe and Asia, 
is the most objectionable. Its bearded heads are apt to cause internal in- 
flammation, if eaten in any quantity. In early spring, while still green, 
it provides a bite for stock, but later on is left untouched, and in summer 
dies down, leaving the pasture without any feeding value. Scarifying the 
pasture, and the application of top-dressings of manure, will aid better 
grasses to keep it down. Clovers and trefoils are of use in suppressing it. 
B. arenarius, Labill., the Sand Brome Grass, is a native of Australia, 
and is very similar in its properties. 
B. mollis, L., the Soft Brome Grass, is a native of Europe, Asia, and 
Africa. 
B. unioloides, L., the Prairie Grass, is a native of America. They are 
both introduced grasses, of which the latter more especially is of some 
value as a permanent pasture grass for dry regions. Many of the Brome 
grasses aid in carrying over rust fungi from season to season, and so in- 
fecting new crops. ; 
Cynodon dactylon, Pers.. The Doub Grass, or Lesser Couch Grass. 
This grass is a cosmopolitan, of value as a pasture grass for dry, warm 
