8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 
tion, soil, and modes of farming, a due and attentive study 
of the tribe should, upon examination of a district, enable 
us to arrive at facts with regard to the nature and value of 
any tract of ground with almost as much certainty as 
though we had resided upon the soil for some time, and had 
drawn our conclusions from what is called “ practical expe- 
rience ;” and yet after all, though one is termed “scientific” 
and the other “ practical,” they are equally the results of 
observation, and both constitute knowledge of a practical 
kind. 
But besides this, it becomes necessary to study the 
meadow-grasses, in order to enable us to bring about those 
changes which may result in the amelioration of property, 
and as we know the influence exercised by the circum- 
stances just noted, so we may be enabled to decide as to 
the kinds of grasses to use in such cases as the laying down 
of new pastures; and the method of ameliorative, or other 
culture to be adopted in that which already exists. Indeed 
this is just as important in farming, unless it be empirical, 
as the understanding the anatomy of the animal frame 
before attempting to prescribe for its treatment under the 
many conditions in which it may be placed. 
Now, in order to enforce this argument, it will be well to 
glance at the distribution of our more common meadow- 
grasses under the following heads :— 
a. Upland pastures, thin soils. 
b. Poor stiff soils, “hungry clays.” 
ce, Rich deep loams. 
d. Meadows on the banks of rivers subject to periodical 
floods. 
e. Irrigated meadows, in which the water can be entirely 
controlled. 
In the Table (p. 10), therefore, are arranged twenty spe- 
cies; in it the first and second columns are devoted to the 
botanical and trivial names of the grasses tabulated. The 
columns, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, have reference to their distribu- 
tion, the figures in these columns representing the propor- 
