THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 41 
H. mollis — creeping soft grass; awn nearly straight, 
always exserted, rough along its whole length; plant creep- 
ing on the surface of the ground.—P. 
The first of these is usually found growing in damp mea- 
dows near rivers, being a general grass under flooding, but 
not so under proper systematic irrigation. It is quite use- 
less, possessing neither flavour nor nutritive qualities, and 
much deteriorates meadows in which it abounds, The best 
method for its eradication will be found in the adoption of 
such farming as will suit better species; the law of exter- 
mination of the weaker by the stronger being nowhere so 
apparent as in the grass meadow; for if the circumstances 
prevail which suit those of a good kind, any bad ones either 
die out or linger on in a wretched and abject state; but a 
return to poverty, or a starved condition of the soil, soon 
causes the bad ones to obtain the ascendancy, and drive out 
those of a better quality. 
The H. mollis is almost confined to sandy soils, such land 
as is formed from the disintegration of the conglomerates 
of the old red, and the more arid tracks on the new red 
sandstones, and the grits accompanying coal-meagures are 
peculiarly liable to it. It spreads in most dissightly tufts 
in the meadows on such soils, and, from being of no value 
itself, it is a great pest in the meadows. It is best kept 
under by well harrowing it from the rest, and following this 
process with marling and manuring, which may be done 
with any substance tending to fertility, as it is a grass un- 
known in rich pastures. Johnston, in his Natural History 
of the Eastern Borders, remarks that, “ when a field of light 
shallow soil, after being cultivated for a few seasons, is again 
laid down for grass, an abundant and unlooked-for crop of 
this grass will often appear. Itis one of those cases in 
which we are left to wonder how the seed came there.”— 
(p. 212) But we need not wonder how this or its congener 
spreads and gets into cultivation, seeing that each in its 
own locality is ever found about the homestead, and one 
plant seeding is enough to stock a wide space of ground. 
