AGRICULTURAL GRASSES. 61 



of such a gross feeder as Bye Grass was attributable to the 

 droppings from cattle kept waiting there; but as the herbage 

 throughout the entire length of the path, wliich traverses several 

 different soils, is nearly all Eye Grass, it affords evidence of 

 superiority over every other grass in. the capability of the plant 

 for enduring the tread of man and beast. This characteristic 

 accounts for the large proportion of Eye Grass in the grass lands 

 of this country which have been depastured from time im- 

 memorial. 



Exceptionally heavy dressings of nitrogenous manures ap- 

 plied to Eye Grass when in mixture with other varieties for a 

 hay crop are inimical to its existence because the manures enable 

 coarse grasses like Cocksfoot to obtain the ascendency. But 

 Eye Grass sown alone, or when mixed with Broad Clover only, 

 is greatly increased by the application of manures, proving that 

 the plant has no inherent objection to them. Both at Chis- 

 wick where it was grown alone, and at Eothamstead where it 

 only formed a portion of the herbage, moderate doses of nitrate 

 of soda had a marked effect upon its growth, and the fact 

 was especially noticeable that the nitrate produced an immense 

 amount of root-fibre as well as leaiy herbage. And it is in- 

 teresting to find that at Eothamstead, after decreasing for three 

 years. Eye Grass then shghtly increased in proportion to the 

 other surrounding grasses, thus evidencing its perennial cha- 

 racter. The ammonia salts which proved so powerful a stimulant 

 to some of the coarser grasses did not benefit Perennial Eye Grass 

 suflGiciently to enable it to hold its position against them. Only 

 on the nitrate plots did it maintain its place. At Kidmore the 

 plant flourished in the bone plots. 



The botanical description and chemical analysis of Sutton's 

 Perennial Eye Grass, a branching variety, considerably dwarfer 

 than Pacey's, and still more perennial in character, are given on 

 page 162, facing an illustration. 



