GRASSES. . 1151 



soon discarded. It furnishes a hay of rather coarse quality, and 

 yields a large produce on good, deep sands and calcareous soils. 

 It is very vigorous and lasting, and consequently makes a good 

 pasture grass. It is similar in appearance to some of the broad- 

 leaved varieties of redtop, and is said to yield more than redtop. 

 It has stronger and more numerous creeping roots, broader leaves, 

 and more upright leafy stems. It is most frequently met with in 

 the Southern States and in the south of France. 



The Water Spear Grass, 6r Reed Meadow Grass, Fig v 28, 

 grows in wet soils and the shallow water of marshes. It is a tall, 

 reedy grass, four or .five feet high, with a panicle nearly a foot long, 

 diffuse, with smooth, flexuous branches. Its root is perennial, 

 creeping ; stem erect, stout, smooth ; joints seven, smooth ; spike - 

 lets numerous. Florets not webbed. Flowers in August. This 

 grass has been cultivated to some extent in England and France 

 for its large yield of coarse hay ; and if cut while green, and before 

 attaining its full growth, it is said to make a nutritious and palat- 

 able fodder, cattle being fond Of it. It is worthy of trial on wet 

 meadows, as it would certainly )ae more valuable than , the coarse 

 sedges often found there. 



Rough-Stalked Meadow Grass, Fig. 19; is a valuable grass to cul- 

 tivate in moist, sheltered soils. It flowers in July, and possesses very 

 considerable nutritive qualities, coming to perfection at a desirable 

 time, and being exceedingly relished by cattle, horses, and sheep. 

 For suitable soils it should form a portion of seed sown, producing, in 

 mixture with other grasses, which serve to shelter it, a large yield 

 of hay,, above the average of grass usually grown on a similar 

 soil. Seven pounds of seed to the acre will produce a good sWard. 

 The grass is said to lose about seventy per cent of its weight in 

 drying. Its hay contains about one and sixty hundredths per cent 

 of azote, and the nutritive qualities of the lattermath are said to 

 exceed very considerably those of the crop cut in the flower or in 

 the seed. 



Quaking Grass, Fig. 37, is sometimes met with in the pastures 

 of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Panicle erect, with very slen- 

 der, spreading branches, and large, purplish, tremulous spikelets, 

 from five to nine flowered; inner glume finely fringed, entire at 

 the end. . 



It is a very beautiful, light, slender grass, about a foot high, 

 perennial, flowering; in June and July. There is an annual, the 

 Large Quaking Grass, -with, large, many-flowered spikes, cultivated 



