55 



being ploughed under again. It will do better in permanent pasture 

 or in a temporary pasture of no shorter duration than say 3 years, 

 by which time it will have acquired its full development. But it is 

 surely needless to* say, that for permanent pasture it answers the 

 purpose best of all. 



It is here the place to draw the attention of both seedsman and 

 farmer to the fact, that it makes an enormous difference of which 

 origin the Meadow Fescue-seed is he uses for his mixtures- 

 American seed may be a clean heavy seed of high growth, yet as 

 regards produce it is by far the inferior of the European (Rhenish)- 

 grown seed. Not only that the former does not produce so great 

 a quantity of hay as the latter (in many cases not one half of it), 

 but both stalks and leaves, produced by American-grown seed, have 

 the bad tendency to go rusty and hard very soon. In that state 

 the plants are seldom touched by the cattle. Both seedsman and 

 farmer should therefore see, they get Rhenish-grov/n seed, if it is 

 possible to procure same, even if they cannot get so high a purity 

 and growth as the American-grown seed usually possesses, and 

 even if they have to pay a good deal more for it. 



Festuca rubra {Red- or Creeping Fescue). A partly creeping partly 

 tuft-forming, about 25 to 30 inches high growing bottom-grass with 

 narrow and not too many blades, useful for both grazing- and hay- 

 making purposes; it does not give a big crop of either grass or 

 hay, but has this advantage that, wherever once settled down, it 

 remains there easily, as it does not put great demands to either 

 soil, manure or circumstances of the weather. It thrives on all 

 sorts of soil, even on dry sandy bottoms and forms a rather 

 thickly-covered turf, leaving very little room for weeds to come 

 through. It does, however, not belong to the varieties of the greatest 

 agricultural and nutritive value and remains in that respect under 

 average. But it is at any rate very useful from this point of view, 

 that it gives a good deal of bottom and that it covers thickly the 

 place where it occurs, filling up splendidly the little spots left 

 bare by the large tuft-forming varieties. It is, moreover, one of 

 the earliest grasses, so that it comes to the front at a time, when 

 the young fodder is most looked for. It should be used in a small 

 proportion in mixtures for permanent pastures on heavy soils, 

 which proportion might be increased to double its quantity on 

 lighter dittos. 



It is also being used in mixtures for fine lawns ; its deep-green. 



