OUR PASTURE GRASSES 



19 



beginning of July. This moderately nutritious variety starts into growth early 

 in spring ; attains to its maximum produce in the third year, yielding only 

 poorly the first season ; forms a good " bottom-grass " ; resists the greatest 

 extremes of drought and cold ; luxuriates in warm, loose lands, rich in humus ; 

 grows well in all soils, excepting those which are very stiff, wet or sour ; 

 succeeds in shady situations ; and should be cut when in flower, as the foliage 

 grows hard afterwards. The great objection to this grass consists in the 

 smallness of its aftermath. Sinclair obtained, at the time of flowering, 10,209 

 lbs. of green, or 2,871 lbs. of dried, produce, with 4,083 lbs. of lattermath, 

 from an acre of good peat; and Vianne and Sprengel respectively record 

 6,250 and 3,500 to 4,400 lbs. of hay per acre. Most of the seed found in 

 commerce comes from North America. Good qualities should have 95 per 

 cent, of purity and about 60 

 per cent, of germination, 

 some 147 lbs. being usually 

 rolled in per acre. Inferior 

 samples are often adulterated 

 with chaff and the seeds of 

 Tufted hair-grass (Atra ccespi- 

 tosd). The seed is never 

 sown alone, excepting for 

 lawns ; but it may be advan- 

 tageously added to mixtures 

 for permanent and temporary 

 pastures for dry land, though 

 it is not adapted for clover 

 leys. Thoroughly decayed 

 manure is beneficial. Apart 

 from other botanical differ- 

 ences, Poa pratensis is easily 

 distinguished from Poa tri- 

 vialis by its stolons being 

 under, instead of on, the sur- 

 face of the ground. 



Rough - stalked Mea- 

 dow-Grass (Poa trivialis). 

 — Enduring perennial, pro- 

 ducing creeping and root- 

 ing branches along the sur- 

 face of the ground, and so 



forming a very close sward ; flowering in June ; and ripening seed in July. 

 This grass, the most reliable and desirable of the Meadow-grasses, shoots 

 tolerably early in spring ; succeeds best in moist situations, on mountains, by 

 rivers, in irrigated meadows and in rich, moist soils generally ; and is unsuit- 

 able for dry and light lands or sunny situations. If forms a good "bottom- 

 grass " in permanent pastures ; is soon stunted and scorched by drought ; 

 resists cold well as a rule ; luxuriates under irrigation and in the shade ; and 

 yields a large cutting of nutritious and most palatable fodder under favourable 

 conditions, though producing very little aftermath. Giving only small produce 

 the first year, it attains to its maximum yield the second season ; and its 

 creeping roots soon over-run and cover the land, though it never mats like 

 Fiorin. Cutting should take place before flowering, as the culms have a 

 tendency to become rotten near the ground. At Woburn, Sinclair obtained, 



c 2 



Smooth-stalkeu Meadow-Gkass. 

 (^Poa pratensis,) 



