64 THE GRASSES— MEADOW FESCUE. 



pasture. "With cattle the plant is ever a favourite, 

 and, if possible, is even more relished than Foxtail. 

 The early growth of Meadow Fescue is not large by- 

 comparison, but before the end of June it leaves Fox- 

 tail far behind. 



The Seed.— A few years ago complaints of the diffi- 

 culty of getting genuine seed of Meadow Fescue were 

 numerous and emphatic. The adulteration of it by 

 means of Perennial Eyegrass must have been carried 

 on to a very large extent, vide the reports of the 

 Botanist to the Eoyal Agricultural Society of Eng- 

 land. Taking the report for 1883, for instance, we 

 find that of the samples of Meadow Fescue examined 

 by him only 29 per cent, were free from Ryegrass. Of 

 the balance 12 per cent, contained Eyegrass to the ex- 

 tent of one-half ! Twenty-two per cent, contained Eye- 

 grass to the extent of over one-fourth, but under one- 

 half ; and 37 per cent, contained Eyegrass to the extent 

 of less than one-fourth. 



The great difficulty of distinguishing by the naked 

 eye (and sometimes even by the magnifying glass) the 

 seed of the one species from the other smoothed the way 

 for such malpractices. Of late years, however, there is 

 no difficulty in getting the seed perfectly pure. From 

 America especially we get some splendid seed of this 

 grass, and most seedsmen are now prepared to supply 

 seed which they can guarantee perfectly pure, allowing 

 a small margin for seeds of Eyegrass that may get into 

 it during the collection. It should never be bought 

 unless specified as " recleaned," as in the rough state it 

 contains often a considerable proportion of seeds of bad 

 grasses and weeds — notably seeds of the Brome grasses. 

 The illustrations appended will give an idea of the 



