Italian Ryegrass. 99 



resisting, I confess I am unable to see why it should 

 be allowed to occupy space which might better be 

 filled with cocksfoot or tall fescue. The seed, it is 

 true, is much cheaper than that of cocksfoot or tall 

 fescue, but if these plants are so much more pro- 

 ductive the saving in cost of seed would soon be 

 out-weighed ; and in the case of lands which are to 

 lie from four to six years a little extra cost of seed 

 seems hardly worth considering. In his remarks on 

 the suitability of the various grasses for alternate 

 husbandry, Sinclair says of timothy that " it is very 

 productive in the fore part of the season, and the 

 foliage and culms are very nutritive ; but it runs 

 much to stalks, and the aftermath is very trifling." 



Lolium Italicum (Italian ryegrass), like timothy, is 

 25 per cent, less productive than the three grasses 

 first treated of. Its value is well known, and, as 

 regards its nutritive value, earliness, productiveness, 

 and quickness of growth after it has been mown, it 

 far surpasses the perennial ryegrass. But it should 

 be used with great caution for permanent pasture, as 

 it is a biennial, and, as in the case of perennial 

 ryegrass, its excessive use would leave spaces liable, 

 or rather certain, to be filled by weeds and worthless 

 grasses. When, however, either in the case of per- 

 manent pasture or for temporary pasture to lie for 

 four or more years, it is intended to take a hay crop 

 the first year, then 2 lbs. or 3 lbs. of Italian may be 

 used, and is generally recommended, in order to in- 

 crease the hay crop. I have used it for this purpose, 

 but confess to having some little doubts about its 

 value as regards increasing the hay crop, as on one 

 occasion, when I added Italian ryegrass to the lower 

 portion of a field, with the view of increasing the hay 

 crop, it most certainly diminished it, and the difference 

 in favour of the part of the field which had no Italian 

 ryegrass was most marked. I regret now that I 

 did not try and estimate the undoubted loss caused by 



