48 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 
cultivated districts. Much of this may be accounted for in 
the unploughed spaces under hedges or stone walls, in 
which it seeds and thus forms a nursery for the fields ; and 
besides, the rhizomes are cut off by the plough and become 
scattered by the operation of the harrow, and thus a centre 
is formed in the field, from which it spreads in like manner, 
so that a quantity of couch has always to be got rid of. 
Much of the evils arising from this grass may be pre- 
vented by the timely use of the fork, which should always 
be brought into requisition upon every couch centre that 
may be detected, and that before ploughing for any and 
every crop, as this instrument is capable of following the 
plant in its depth as well as breadth, while the plough only 
cuts it off for the depth limited by its operations. This 
method, it is true, adds a little to the first expense of 
tillage, but it saves much after trouble, and is far cheaper 
in the end. 
The same circumstance which renders the plant just 
described so great a pest to the farmer, namely its creeping 
habit of growth, should impel us to preserve the ZT. jwnceum, 
as it is confined to sandy sea-shores, which its long, tough, 
aud flexile rhizome assists in so matting together as to 
prevent the encroachment of the sea-water on the coast. 
Bracurpopium—locuste cylindrical, on short pedicels 
alternate on the central axis ; glwmes unequal, trans- 
verse. 
B. pinnatum—heath false brome-grass—locuste of from 
eight to twelve smooth florets; awns half the length of the 
florets ; spike and leaves upright.—P. 
B. sylwaticum—siender false brome-grass—locuste of from 
eight to ten florets; florets hairy ; awn longer than florets ; 
spike drooping ; leaves bent downwards.—P. 
The habits of these two species are very different—the 
former preferring poor open heaths and down lands, particu- 
larly on limestone soils; the latter growing in hedgerows 
and beneath woods and in shaded places. Agriculturally 
