06 PEEMANENT AND TEMPOEAEY PASTUEES. 



however, is exceptional, but it proves the endurance and fertihty 

 of the plant. 



The botanical description and chemical analysis of Sutton's 

 Italian Eye Grass are given on page 164, facing an illustration. 



PHLEUM PEATENSE 

 (Timothy, or Meadow Catstail). 



To see this grass in perfection a visit must be paid to the 

 United States, where it is grown alone, and yields amazing crops 

 of hay, three, four, and in one recorded instance six feet high. 

 In the pastures of that country our finer meadow grasses are un- 

 known; therefore Timothy is more highly prized than with us. It 

 is supposed to have been introduced into England for agricultural 

 purposes about the middle of the last century, and is now widely 

 distributed. The plant is perennial and fibrous-rooted, except 

 under certain conditions when the root shows a tendency to take 

 a bulbous form. 



To sow Timothy on sandy or dry gravelly soils, or on 

 mountain pastures, is useless ; but it luxuriates in clay districts 

 and on moist soils, and is unsurpassed on peat. Its character 

 varies greatly in different soils and situations. It is one of the 

 most certain grasses to grow, and is specially serviceable in the 

 company of Foxtail, because it fills the interval between the first 

 growth and the aftermath of that grass. Another substantial 

 advantage is that the plant reaches the height of its productiveness 

 in the first year after being sown, but unless it is properly fed 

 there is a tendency to weakness in the third or fourth year ; and 

 considering the severe tax which such a plant necessarily makes 

 on the soil, this will occasion no surprise. 



No other grass will bear extremes of heat and cold better 

 than Timothy, and in rigorous winters, which severely test the 

 endurance of other hardy varieties, this will pass through the trial 

 uninjured. Timothy produces a heavy hay crop, is exceedingly 

 nutritious when young, and becomes still more so when old and 



