112 PRACTICAL NOTES ON GRASSES AND GRASS GROWING. 
“Your views of its self renovation by allowing it to seed 
fully when necessary are right, as well as the description you 
give of soil suitable for it ; but it will not last more than about 
six years, and most light lands will become very foul of spear- 
grass by that time. I should advise no seed more than one 
year old to be sown except it has been very well harvested, and 
certainly not more than two years, or yearlings.” 
Yarrow oR MILFoIL (ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM), 
Yarrow is so nearly like a weed which grows on light, sandy 
brows and banks (on a parity to zig-zag clover), that it is 
difficult to distinguish ; it also reproduces itself by root growth, 
as twitch or speargrass does. Still many people sow it on 
light sandy land in their permanent mixtures when they are 
able to procure the seed, which is not at all times an easy task. 
Its foliage is very beautiful, being elegantly fimbriated, and in 
July it bears a pale elaborate flower spike. Under certain 
circumstances and conditions stock will feed it closely down, 
whereas at other times they will not touch it. It seems par- 
ticularly adapted for hot, gravelly, dry soil. During a hot, dry 
summer it will thrive where other plants cannot exist, and once 
established it is everlasting. 
Weighing 34 lb. per bushel, each pound has about 3,000,000 
germinating seeds, 
LUCERNE. 
Amongst the most early known and widely used grasses for 
forage crops lucerne, perhaps, would be the first mentioned. It 
is largely cultivated, not only in Europe, but also in North and 
in South America, where it is called Alfalfa ; also in Persia and 
in the far east. Mention will be found of it in “ Virgil,” which 
gives some idea of the number of years it has been introduced. 
