CHAPTER III. 



THE ARTIFICIAL GRASSES; OR, PLANTS CULTI- 

 VATED AND USED LIKE GRASSES, THOUGH NOT 

 BELONGING TO THE GRASS FAMILY. 



We have given our whole attention,, in the preceding 

 pages, to what are strictly and properly called the nat- 

 ural or the true grasses. We now come to consider, very 

 briefly, another class of plants, called artificial gflasses. 



Curious as it may appear, the artificial grasses were 

 cultivated first, in point of time, in England ; the red 

 clover having been introduced and grown there about 

 the year 1633 ; sainfoin, 1651 ; yellow clover in 1659, 

 and white clover about the year 1700 ; while not one 

 of the natural grasses was cultivated till nearly a cen- 

 tury later, with the exception of perennial rye grass, 

 first cultivated in 1677. 



About the year 1759 the custom of sowing the chaff 

 and seed dropped from the hay-stack along with the 

 artificial grasses and rye grass began, and soon after, — 

 between 1761 and 1764, — the cultivation of Timothy 

 and orchard grass was introduced from America. The 

 culture of the bent grasses, the sheep's fescue, and the 

 crested dog's tail, began soon after. In 1766 the Lon- 

 don Society for the Encouragement of Arts offered 

 premiums for the collection of the seeds of some of the 

 grasses then found growing wild, such as the meadow 

 foxtail, the meadow fescue, the sweet-scented vernal 



(183) 



