AGEICULTURAL GRASSES. 69 



horizontal direction and send up little tufts. Each variety has a 

 value of its own, and is fitted to serve a purpose which the other 

 is less adapted to fulfil. Poa pratensis is naturally suitable for 

 enduring drought, while Poa trivialis thrives in moisture. This 

 is the chief constitutional difference between the two plants, and 

 although each of them will to some extent conform to the condi- 

 tions which specially favour the other, yet the distinction clearly 

 indicates the use to which each one should, as a rule, be applied. 



Poa pratensis does not root very deeply, but is dependent 

 principally upon the surface soil, and is therefore met with on 

 all geological formations if the surface happens to be suitable. 

 All eminent authorities concur in recommending its use on 

 good dry soils, and my own experience has convinced me of 

 the correctness of their opinion. But light land must be rich 

 in humus to ensure success, and this shows that the plant is 

 unfitted for sand. On heavy and tenacious soils it will often 

 grow, but is not then seen to the greatest advantage. 



During the first year Poa pratensis remains small, and does 

 not throw up any stalks, and when fully established it is a marked 

 characteristic of the plant that it only flowers once a year. After 

 the stems are cut, no more grow until the following season. The 

 plant needs liberal feeding, and is primarily a pasture grass, 

 because the flowers come too early for the scythe. Otherwise, 

 for very forward cutting it is valuable for hay, and then pro- 

 duces a good aftermath of leafy herbage. The secret of its 

 earliness is that the plant appears to be insensible to cold, con- 

 tinuing to grow during spring frosts. Its presence in large 

 proportion in a pasture will, by the shelter it affords to other 

 varieties, make that pasture an early one, and this fact strongly 

 commends it to the grazier, for a ton of feed at the end of March 

 or the beginning of April is of far higher value than it is a month 

 later. 



Eor lawns, Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass may be freely 

 sown, as it is strictly perennial, overpowers weeds, and forms a 

 fine compact turf. 



