RIBBON GRASS. 205 



convert a large area into swamps. Its flowers vary greatly 

 in their hue according to position. Their general color is 

 whitish or pale green, but they are met with when they 

 exhibit rich shades of purple and yellow, and with red in- 

 stead of yellow anthers. The rudimentary flowers on either 

 side of the fertile palese are not invariably to be met with. 

 We have seen flowers that have had only one of these, and 

 sometimes neither is present. Its seeds weigh from forty- 

 eight to fifty pounds to the bushel, and' the birds are very 

 fond of them. Half a bushel to the acre is quite enough to 

 sow under any circumstances, but it is most commonly 

 propagated from cuttings of the root, one piece being de- 

 posited to every square foot, in the early spring, in ground 

 that has been well prepared and pulverized by frost. 

 Linnaeus says that it is extensively used for fodder in 

 Sweden and is liked by the cattle. In the .province of 

 Scania it is mown twice a year. The peasantry there use it 

 as a thatch for their cottages and hay stacks, and find it 

 more durable than straw, It is very certain that cattle in 

 our own country do not relish it, either as pasture or hay, 

 and they will not touch it so long as they can get anything 

 better. It might, however, be utilized even here by the 

 proprietors of marsh lands. When cut very young, say 

 when about one foot high, and used for soiling, cattle eat it 

 better than in any other way. When it becomes older it 

 is very rigid and becomes distasteful, and should never be 

 used as fodder. The creeping roots are probably nutritious; 

 they have a sweetish flavor, and pigs will devour them with 

 avidity. Its composition, as stated by Messrs. Scheven and 

 Ritthausen, is: Water-, 68.9; protein, 1.9; fat, 0.4; heat-pro- 

 ducing principles, 12.6: woody fibre, 13.5; ashes, 2.6. Ac- 

 cording to the Woburn experiments, a black sandy loam in- 

 cumbent on clay at the time of flowering yielded from an 

 acre 27,225 pounds of grass, which lost 14,973 pounds in 

 drying, and afforded 1,701 pounds of nutritive matter. 

 From a strong, tenacious clay the produce was 34,031 



