GRASSES. 1155 



Italian Rye Grass, Fig. 32, has been recently introduced into 

 *his country. The soil best adapted to Italian > rye grass seems to 

 be moist, fertile, and tenacious, or of a medium consistency ; and on 

 such soils it is said to be one of the best grasses known to cut green 

 for soiling, affording repeated luxuriant crops, and is of high nutri- 

 tive value. 



The Many-Flowered Darnel, Fig. 33, is, perhaps, the most 

 showy species of rye grass cultivated. It was introduced from 

 France to England about thirty years ago, and is there cultivated 

 to some extent. It is very nearly allied to, if not identical with, 

 Italian rye grass. 



Couch Grass, Quitch Grass, Twitch Grass, Dog Grass, Chandler 

 Grass, Fig. 50, is generally regarded by farmers as a troublesome 

 weed, and efforts are made to get rid of it. Its long, creeping roots, 

 branching in every direction, take complete possession of the soil, 

 and impoverish it. When green, however, it is very much relished 

 by cattle, and, if cut in the blossom, it makes a nutritious hay. 

 Dogs eat the leaves of this grass, and those of one other species, for 

 their medicinal qualities in exciting- vomiting. It goes in different 

 parts of the country by a great variety of names, as quake grass, 

 quack grass, squitch grass.- It is important to destroy it, if possible., 

 . Wood Hair Grass, or Common Hair Grass, Fig. 40, is a com- 

 mon grass on dry, rocky hills and roadsides. Stems slender, one to 

 two feet high, nearly naked ; leaves dark green, often curved, bris- 

 tle-formed ; branches of the panicle hairy, spreading, mqstly in 

 pairs ; lower palea slightly toothed ; awn starting near the base, 

 bent in the middle, longer than the glumes, which are purplish. 

 Perennial. Flowers in June. This plant is sometimes found, thirty- 

 five hundred feet above the level of the sea. Sheep eat it readily. 

 Of little value for cultivation. 



Water Hair Grass, Fig. 34, is said to be among the sweetest 

 of the British grasses, and equal to any foreign one. Its stems and 

 leaves, when green, have a sweet and agreeable taste, like that of 

 liquorice. Water fowls are said to be very fond of the seeds and 

 the fresh green shoots, and cattle eat it very readily. It is strictly 

 an aquatic, but can be cultivated on imperfectly drained bogs. 



Tke Downy Oat Grass, is a very hardy perennial grass, nat- 

 uralized on chalky soils, and on such soils its leaves are covered 

 with a coating of downy hairs, which it loses when cultivated on 

 better lands. It is regarded as a good, permanent pasture grass, on 

 account of its hardiness and being but a slight impoverisher of the 



