ON THE CULTIVATED GRASSES 



parks sown down to permanent grass, with seeds saved promiscuously from hay grown in 

 some of the richest meadows in Yorkshire, and to this day the beneficial effects of the ex- 

 periment are still evident ; and no less striking to the botanist than to the grazier, from 

 the prevalence of Avena flavescens, and other grasses, rarely met with in the surrounding 

 country. Towards the end of the century, the fescues, timothy, cocksfoot, Yorkshire fog, 

 and several others of the permanent natural grasses, began to receive some degree ■ of 

 attention, arising, no doubt, from the favourably reported results attendant on their culture 

 in various parts of England, and the persevering advocacy of their merits, both by agricul- 

 tural and botanical writers. 



In Ireland, none of the grasses seem to have been cultivated till after the middle of 

 the eighteenth century. Mr John Wynn Baker, of Lauchlen's Town, near Lexlip, grew 

 the Red Clover about the year 1760, lucern in 1763, burnet in 1765; and in 1764 he 

 tried an apparently successful experiment with what he called the strawberry clover, 

 which he discovered growing, naturally among limestone gravel in the county of Meath, — 

 which, however, from the description he gives, cannot have been the TrifoUum fragifcrum, 

 but more likely the other native Strawberry-headed Clover, T. rempinatnm. From 

 the earlier reports on Irish counties, drawn up by order of the Dublin Society, between 

 the years 1801 and 1808, it appears that, in the county of Cork, red clover was almost 

 wholly unknown in 1795, and five years afterwards rye-grass was still uncultivated. In 

 1800, red clover was cultivated only by the more intelligent agriculturists in the county ot 

 Dublin, and rye-grass was even more sparingly grown. About the same date, red and 

 white clover were crops not cultivated to any extent in Armagh, while rye-grass was totally 

 excluded ; Timothy-grass was grown by way of experiment near Castle Dobbs in Antrim • 

 and in the county of Down, the reporter mentions that the Cultivated Grasses consisted 

 of red, white, and yellow clover, with rye-grass, white-grass, or Yorkshire fog, and a mixture 

 of hay-seeds from the stable-lofts in towns, containing a large proportion of soft brome or 

 goose-grass. * In 1 80 1 , Mr Wynne of Hazelwood introduced the culture of Lucern into the 

 county of Sligo ; and in that and the succeeding year. Sir Richard St George introduced 

 the cultivation of Lucern, Sainfoin, and Chiccory, into Kilkenny; but the Usual 

 Crops of that country then consisted of red clover, rye-grass, and white grass, with Soft 

 Brome-grass, for the hay of which the English dragoon regiments quartered in Ireland 

 are stated to have given los. per ton more than for any other. It appears, however, to 

 have been generally grown in mixture with rye-grass ; and, in the earlier stages of grass 

 husbandry, its culture does not seem to have been limited to Ireland alone, as Withering, 

 in his " British Flora," states that he had seen it in some parts sown among clover • while 

 Curtis and Martyn, both eminent botanical writers, recommend it as being very early, and 

 that " its large seeds make the hay more nutritious." To that early practice of sowing the 

 soft brome-grass, may be traced its present appearance in rye-grass fields, where it is now 

 considered an intrusive weed, indicative of impurity in the rye-grass seed ; though, like the 

 wild-oatf and other indigenous annuals, its presence may at least occasionally be traced to 

 the seeds of former crops retaining their vitality when buried to a certain depth in the'soil. 

 Since the commencement of the present century, the increased facilities of communica- 

 tion and conveyance have removed the obstacles which formerly limited, for a considerable 

 period at least, the adoption of any new practice or mode of culture to the district 

 in which it might have originated; so that improvements in England, Scotland, and 



Bromus mollis f Avena fatua 



