36 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



Cocksfoot happens to be the fashionable grass of the present 

 day, several recent writers having given it a more important place 

 than is assigned to it by older authorities. As to its immense 

 cropping power on strong moist soils there cannot be two 

 opinions ; but it does not endure long-continued drought so 

 well as Foxtail, and is entirely out of place in upland meadows. 

 When a fine hay crop is the chief desideratum. Cocksfoot 

 should be omitted altogether, and its place be filled by Meadow 

 Fescue. 



Dr. J. Augustus Voelcker has now completed the series of 

 analyses of grasses for this work, and the relative position which 

 he assigns to the feeding value of Cocksfoot is given in his report 

 at page 128. 



The valuable quahties of Cocksfoot are even better realised 

 in a three or four years' ley than in a permanent pasture.^ With 

 Eye Grass and Clover it forms a superior feeding ley, and yields 

 a very bulky crop for consumption on the farm, where its coarse- 

 ness is not objectionable. Full maturity is not attained until the 

 second year. 



Cocksfoot comes into flower in June, and meadows in which 

 it abounds must be cut early so that the flowering culms may be 

 in a young stage of growth. After cutting, the plant quickly 

 starts again, and while tender the herbage is much relished by all 

 kinds of cattle. Mere size or coarseness is not a standard of 

 excellence, for a smaller crop of Cocksfoot from a rich, fight 

 loam has been proved by analysis to be more than equiva- 

 lent to a heavier crop taken from fen land, and the quality is 

 always higher before flowering than after the seed-culms have 

 been developed. Experiments show that in April one pound in 



1 The Swiss authority, Dr. F. G. Stebler, is very emphatic on this point. He 

 says : ' It is chiefly in temporary meadows that it ia most advantageous. Yet if sown 

 too largely at first it has the same fault as if sown alone, forming cushions, and con- 

 sequently an unequal turf. It is better to begin by sowing but little, and, after allowing 

 other sorts to develope properly, to sow a little more later. Only in exceptional cases is 

 it necessary to sow more than 16 per cent, at first. A good rolling is very beneficial in 

 spring. This levels the tufts. In old meadows and well-manured land it is often 

 advantageous to harrow in spring, followed by rolling.' 



