GRASS, 



are moft proper for, or oa which they fucceed to the greatcft 

 advantage. 



" Rav-grafs flolium perftme). This grafs, which for 

 many piirpofes is a very valuable one, is chiefly to be re- 

 commended for the two divifions of foil dillinguinied under 

 the titles of loam and fand. It will flourifli on any land, 

 except iliff clay, and will grow even on that; but, upon 

 rich fands and loams, it becomes not only a good fpring- 

 grafs, but, if properly managed by due mixtures, turns 

 ont well as a permanent pallurc-land; always, however, 

 moll valuable by being fheep-fed, for which it is Angularly 

 adapted. Mr. Peacey's tv.o varieties of it are faid, by 

 fome perfons who have tried them, to be fuperior to the 

 common fort. Mr. Profe.Tor Martyn, he fays, ftates the 

 cynofurus cisruleiis, poa nemoralis, bromus mollis, alopecuruj, 

 anthoxanlhum, and poa praleiifis, as all being earUer than the 

 lolium pcrenne, or ray.' Sec l^OLiv: t-l Pereime. 



" Yorkfliiie white (holcus lanatus). This, he obferves, 

 flouriflies well o:) any moill foil, and grows very generally, 

 except on tlie moll dry and barren ones, where, however, 

 it is alfo found. It {hould be fown chiefly with a view to 

 (heep, for it is not equ;Jly good for other llock: many 

 acres of it have been cultivated on his farm for flicep, and it 

 has anfwered greatly when kept clofe fed. Mr. Marfliall, 

 in his Midland Counties, mentions it as a good grafs for 

 cows and other cattle, but bad for horfes. In his York 

 Economy he, hov.-ever, condemns it in toto ; probably from 

 not then having fo clofely remarked its qualities." See 

 HoLCDS honiXtiti. 



" Meadow-fcfcue ( fejluca pratenjis ) . This is an excellent 

 grafs for good loams and clayey foils, and he has foup.d it 

 abound largely on dry loams. He has laid down fome parts 

 of fields with it for comparifon with other graifes on wet 

 fandy loams on a clay marie bottom, worth 14J. or 15^. an 

 acre ; but has found it giving way in four years to the plants 

 more indigenous to the foil. He does not think there is 

 any better grafs for either hay or palhirage, and it yields 

 feed in great abundance. He adds, that colonel St. Leger 

 Was, he believes, the firil who entered largely into the cul- 

 ture of this grafs: and Mr. Majendie, of Elfex, revived it, 

 and began with the ahpecurus ." See Festuca Prntenf.s. 



" Meadow fox-tail (ahpecurus pratenjis). He thinks that 

 for moill loams and clays, there cannot be a better grafs 

 than this : it is very early, and it abides on his farm after 

 nine or ten vears on the foils upon which the meadow-fefcue 

 gives way to otiiers. It has alfo been found, by Mr. Ma- 

 jendie, hardier againft frofl;8 than the poa tiiv'ialis: the 

 grcatell objection to it is the difficidty of getting the feed 

 in any degree of plenty ; there is an infcft that feeds on it, 

 and occailons much dilappointment. Mr.Profeflbr Martyn, 

 in liis excellent " Flora Ruftica," fpeaks, he obferves, 

 highly of this grafs, and fays the feeds may be collefted 

 without much difficulty ; but he does not there advert to 

 the infect which is fo pernicious, as noticed by Mr. Majendie, 

 and by the ingenious Mr.Swayne, in his " Gramina Pafcua." 

 In a lield on his farm, wiiere it is very well eftablifhcd, and 

 herbage thick, it produces very few feed-llalks.'" See 

 .i..OPCCURUS Pralenfs. 



" Crelled dog's-tail grafs (cynofurus crUltUui). It is rc- 

 warked, that to judge from the appearance of the bents of 

 this grafs in poor upland but moill pafturcs, ■& man would 

 think it a very unpromifmg plant ; but the rich marlhcs of 

 li.idgewater and Boilon, the famous pafturages of Painton 

 ; Devonihire, and thofe clofe to Mr. Bullcr's caille near 



•'.keard in Cornwall, Mr. Thome's bullock-grounds on a 

 .jinellone bottom near Tavillock, Mrs Williams's at Little 

 Malvern in AVorccftcrfliiie, (which are amo.ng the richeil 



paftures in the kingdom), all abound, he alTert*, very 

 greatly in this grafs ; in fome of them it is the predominant 

 herbage. Mr. Mar/iiall, in his York Economy, places ic 

 as the moll prevailing plant in tlie befl grafs. meadows of the 

 Tale of Pickering, hmie of which will feed a large cow 

 from May-day to Michaelmas. Ver)- fortunately it abounds 

 much with feed, fo that he has had many bufhcis gathered 

 in a feafon by poor women and children, at one (hilhii" a 

 pound, and laid down many acres with it fucccfsfiillv. At- 

 tention fliould be paid to its being ripe ; for he cnce ordered 

 eight buflicls to be fov.n on eight acres, and it failed from 

 deficiency in ripenefs." See Cyxosubus Cr'i/lalus. 



" Roughcd-ilalked meadow-irrafs (poa Irivlalis). It is 

 obferved that Mr. Boys, of Betlhanger, in Kent, has been 

 the largell cultivator of this grafs in "the kingdom, and fold 

 large quantities of the feed, but gave it up for want of a 

 demand. It is, he afierts, an excellent grafs on good, 

 found, and moill loams. It is accounted in Lombardv 

 • the queen of meadow plants (la reg:na Ml' trie),' wh,'. 

 ther for dry pallures or water meadows ; multiplying itfrlf 

 much by feed, and little by the root ; fo that, if a'tcnt.O'.* 

 be not paid to permit fome feed to fall, its quantity will 

 fcnfibly diminifli. Excellent for all forts of cattle." 



" This hint concerning the feed is worth attention \a 

 England. Major Cartv.right has found the poa pratenfn to 

 be an excellent grafs on rich loams ; and both fucceedixl 

 well mth fir Wiiiiam Clayton, of Harleyford.'' See Poa 

 Tr'iv'tal'is. 



" Cock's-foot (daaylis glomerala). This grafs has beeti- 

 largely cultivated over the farm he now manages, and to his 

 fitisfadion on wet loams on a clay marie bottom, upon which 

 the finer grafies are apt to give way in a few years to the 

 indigenous produce. If fuffered to rife high, it is very 

 coarfe ; but, fed clofe, is a very valuable Iflieep-pafture. 

 Women and children make good earnings in gathering it at 

 4f. a bulhel. He has fown two bufhels an acre, and lelhs. 

 common red clover ; and when the clover wears out, the 

 grafs fills the land, and abides well in it. It ^rows well in 

 winter. It has been found highly ufeful as an early (heep 

 feed.'' 



It is ftated in the Norfolk Report on Agriculture, that 

 " fir Mordaunt Martin, in i7Si>, ohferving, by an experi- 

 ment, th.at this grafs grew four inches in lefs than three 

 days, determined to atler.d more particularly to it : he re- 

 marked, that when fliecp were let out of a fold, they ran 

 over every thing, to get at a baulk that was full of it, and 

 there ate it in preference to other grades. In fome parts 

 of Norfolk it is called cows' grafs, from their being very 

 fond of it. He began to cultivate it in 1794. It grow* 

 at Midfummer, in a drought, when evcrv thing clfe is burnt 

 up. He fows it with nonfuch, inllcad of my-£rrafs, and 

 finds it much more profitable." And " Mr. Overman 

 alfo, obferving the eagernefs with which l>,eep, \\ hen let 

 into a field at Bvirnham-market that had fome cock's-foot 

 grafs in it, ran over ray-grafs, and every thing clfe, to get 

 a bite of this plant, thought it worth cultivatir.g, and foxvcd 

 about an acre, on the dry gravelly part of his farm, juft 

 above the marili. This fpot w-as the only one, in a larye 

 ileld, that did not burn in the fevere drought of i8co, -and 

 convinced him of the excellence of the grifs.'' He alfo 

 iliewed the writer " a beautifij crop of. drilled wheat, which 

 could fcarcely be ellimated at lets than four quarters and a 

 half per acre, pointed out a part of the field, fuperior, if 

 auy thing, to the rell ; and faid it was an experiment on the 

 cock's-foot grafs ; he had found it an excellent plant for 

 (heep, but having examined the roots, perceived them to be 

 fo fuong, that lie had forae fufpicion ihcy might exhauil. 



the 



