AGRICULTURAL GRASSES 59 



Again, it is objected that twitch is produced by Italian 

 Rye Grass. With pure seed this is impossible, but plenty 

 of Italian Rye Grass seed infested with twitch is freely bought 

 and sold every year. The remedy is in the buyer's own hands. 

 When twitch is ah-eady in the soil, a starved crop of Rye Grass 

 may give the couch an opportunity of asserting itself. Still, 

 the tendency of a well-fed and frequently cut crop of Italian 

 always favours the destruction of twitch. 



Italian Rye Grass is very frequently sown with Broad 

 Clover in composite mixtures for alternate husbandry, and it 

 may also be used with Avena elatior when a more durable crop 

 is wanted. But the most profitable method is to gi-ow Italian 

 Rye Grass alone, because the crop can be cut before the stalks 

 become hard and lose their nutritive qualities. Another reason 

 why Italian should not be allowed to grow old is that the plant 

 is extremely succulent, and in warm thundery weather there is 

 a risk of the roots beginning to rot. On this account a very 

 bulky crop cannot be safely left for seed in a hot, damp 

 summer. 



The usual months for sowing are February, March, 

 September, and October, and the quantity three bushels per 

 acre, but seed may be sown at any time from spring to autumn. 

 The plant is rolled in spring, the crop is cut frequently, and 

 the land broken up in the following spring twelvemonth. 

 Many farmers make it a rule to sow in October, and on 

 warm moist soils crops have sometimes been cut at Christmas, 

 and again in the following April. Such experience, however, 

 is exceptional, but it proves the hardiness and fertihty of 

 the plant. 



Italian Rye Grass, when out of flower, may be recognised 

 by the same characteristics which distinguish L. perenne, with 

 this difference : in L. perenne the sheath is flat, whUe in 

 L. italicum the sheath is round. 



For iUustration, description, and chemical analysis, see 

 pages 170 and 171. 



