30 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOKAEY PASTUEES. 



clearly indicates that Sweet Vernal is even better for grazing 

 than for cutting. One characteristic of this grass is its brilliant 

 green colour ; hence it should be employed in mixtures for parks 

 and ornamental grounds in larger proportion than would be 

 reasonable if the quantity of hay or grass were of primary con- 

 sideration. But its use in lawns is, in my opinion, a mistake, 

 although it has been recommended for that purpose. The leaves 

 are too broad and liat, and look unsightly in a sward that is kept 

 down close ; but for the park, especially round a mountain home, 

 it is an invaluable grass. 



Sweet Vernal grows abundantly in some parts of Devon ^ and 

 in the Eastern Counties, and the plants invariably thrive better 

 in pastures among other varieties than when two of them happen 

 to be contiguous. It is well adapted for deep, rich, moist soils, 

 where it grows luxuriantly, and on marshy places it throws up 

 flower culms all through the summer, In wet, peaty land it 

 comes so large and reed-Uke as to deceive any but an experi- 

 enced botanist. It also thrives under the shade of trees, and 

 accommodates itself remarkably to irrigation. Yet, strange to 

 say, tins grass is equally at home on thin moors and exposed 

 sandy dunes, and further experiments should be made with it on 

 reclaimed land and sandy wastes near the sea, for it will live 

 in soil which will not feed any other grass, and isolated plants 

 flourish where only rushes and heather have existed before. It is 

 also believed to have the property of discouraging the growth of 

 moss. 



The agreeable perfume imparted to hay by Sweet Vernal has 

 created a demand for seed out of aU proportion to the supply. 

 It is gathered by hand from plants growing wild in the woods 



' A gentleman in South Devon has written me concerning Anthoxantlmm odoratum 

 as follows : — 



' This grass grows wild in this neighbourhood in the hedgerows, and cattle are very- 

 fond of it in the winter months. It has the merit of shooting very early in the spring. 

 Towards the end of February last we had a few days of mild and moist weather, and it 

 commenced to sprout very strongly, and I observed that all kinds of cattle preferred it to 

 other grasses.' 



