38 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



great partiality for the leaves, eating them down so close that 

 there would be a danger of the plant being exterminated were it 

 not for the fact that the seed-culms soon become hard, and are 

 then rejected by the animals, with the result that seed is matured 

 and shed copiously almost every season. Superficial observers 

 have occasionally misnamed these stalks ' bents,' and have depre- 

 ciated the grass accordingly. Up to the time of forming seed, 

 these stalks do no harm, but the actual production of seed inter- 

 feres greatly with the aftermath, To prevent this injury, and 

 because it is needless to allow seed to be shed every year, it is 

 sometimes worth while to put the mower over the pasture in the 

 early part of July to take off the rising culms. The stalks have 

 been used as fine straw in bonnet-making. 



At the time the crop is cut this grass is too small to make 

 much difference in the weight of hay, and the fact has been urged 

 as an objection to the sowing of Dogstail. The answer is that it 

 is distinctly a grazier's grass, being found in all the most cele- 

 brated natural sheep pastures of the country; and its value for 

 grazing is shown by its extraordinary growth in August, when 

 other grasses are giving up. 



On lawns and pleasure-grounds the fine evergreen herbage 

 is especially prized ; and in deer parks Dogstail should be liberally 

 used, for deer are, if possible, more fond of it than sheep. 



Cynosurus thrives in compact soil, and it will endure con- 

 ditions under which few other grasses can exist. The roots are 

 hard, and as they penetrate deep the plant is naturally adapted 

 for dry soils, and can withstand drought. Still I have seen it 

 growing luxuriantly on tenacious clays, especially near the sea, 

 and it is singular that a grass which does so well on very 

 strong soils should also find a congenial home on thin upland 

 pastures. On dry loams with a chalk subsoil it should be sown 

 freely. In fact, there is hardly any soil in the kingdom for 

 which it is unsuited. Full maturity is not reached until the 

 second or third year. 



The following description of the foliage of this grass will aid 



