COCKSFOOT : ORCHARD-GRASS 



541 



sowing, so cannot profitably be used in short leys. It should, 

 however, be included in all mixtures for permanent pastures and in- 

 cluded in leys of five or six years' duration. It is a good lawn grass. 



Genus Dactylis. 



Panicle of dense clusters of spikelets all arranged on one side: 

 spikelets with three to five flowers : empty glumes with a short rigid 

 point, keeled ; flowering glume with a short almost terminal awn. 



Cocksfoot : Orchard-Grass {Dactylis glomerata L.). — One 

 of the commonest of all grasses 

 perennial, with a strongly - tufted 

 habit of growth. Its leaf-sheaths 

 are flattened and blades large and 

 flat. It is met with upon all soils, 

 and ranks in the first class of forage 

 grasses on account of its heavy 

 yielding power, high nutritive quality, 

 and power of rapid growth after 

 being cut. Cocksfoot is one of the 

 first grasses to spring up after a field 

 is mown. It is, however, not well 

 adapted for meadows for hay as its 

 unsightly tufts become coarse and 

 woody if allowed to grow until the 

 remainder of the grasses are ready 

 to cut. 



Pastures in which Cocksfoot is 

 abundant should be kept well grazed. 

 It is slow to mature, and should not 

 be used for leys of shorter dura- 

 tion than three or four years ; but fig. iSo.-^, Panicle of Cocksfoot 

 in mixtures for longer leys and per- ^"g^B^/^'^f ,eaf.bMe and liguie. 



manent pasture it should always be 

 included in moderate amount. 



C, Spikelet (twice natural size). 



