GRASSES OF MINOR IMPORTANCE 181 
to be grown under domestication for hay and pasture 
purposes. ‘To the early English farmer all grasses 
were alike. No attempt was made to separate them 
and secure pure seed of the various kinds. When the 
attempt was made, this was the first grass of which 
pure seed was placed on the market, and the conserva- 
tive English farmer has stuck to it now for nearly 
three centuries. It was introduced from England into 
Germany and France. In the language of both these 
countries, in order to preserve the English pronuncia- 
tion, the word ‘‘rye’’ was spelled v-a-z. It seems that 
some later English writers imported this word back 
into English, changing the z to y, thus producing the 
term ‘‘ray’’ grass, sometimes used for the rye-grasses. 
The name ‘‘ rye-grass’’ is somewhat unfortunate, since 
itleads toconfusion. ‘The rye-grasses are not at all like 
the common cereal bearing that name. Neither are 
they like the so-called wild rye-grasses of our Western 
States. But this is not a matter of much importance, 
because of the small part these two grasses seem des- 
tined to play in American agriculture. : 
ITALIAN RYE-GRASS is sometimes used to secure a 
quick growth on lawns where blue-grass is not easily 
grown. ‘This is particularly the case around Wash- 
ington, D. C. It is very useful for this purpose. As 
stated elsewhere, it is probable that the rye-grasses 
would prove useful in pasture mixtures in much 
of the region in which blue-grass is now the standard 
grass. 
The seed of the rye-grasses weighs about 20 lbs. 
per bushel. Seedsmen recommend two to three bush- 
els of seed per acre when sown alone. In mixtures 
