AGRICULTURAL GRASSES 49 



manures alone seem capable of augmenting its growth. 

 Stebler, however, speaks favourably of the effects of fresh 

 farmyard manure. 



For illustration, description, and chemical analysis, see 

 5*. Edition. 



FESTUCA ELATIOR 

 (Tall Fescue). 



The name F. elatior given to this grass by Linnaaus not 

 only included the tall-growing variety which English botanists 

 alone know as F. elatior, but under that designation he 

 included the smaller sort, afterwards elevated into a distinct 

 species by Hudson, which is now known in England as F.pra- 

 tensis. Although the indigenous variety of F. elatior found 

 exclusively in wet marshy places, inland ditches, and tidal 

 waters, is so coarse and harsh as, according to Curtis, to be of 

 little value for good pastures, Sinclair pointed out its merits 

 as a fodder grass for strong undrained clays unsuited to the 

 growth of the finer grasses. He also calls attention to the fact 

 that no crop can be depended on from sowing the seed, and 

 adds : ' It does not perfect much seed, and can only, therefore, 

 be propagated by parting and planting the roots.' Again he 

 says : ' The seed is universally, according to all my observa- 

 tions, affected with a disease called clavus (ergot), and conse- 

 quently infertile.' On this ground Sinclair actually named the 

 grass Festuca elatior sterilis. And Curtis, at the beginning of 

 the nineteenth century, stated that ' the seeds of this plant 

 when cultivated are not fertile, hence it can only be introduced 

 by parting its roots and planting them out.' 



As a matter of fact, although the F. elatior indigenous to 

 this country is often sterile, Continental seed is fertile, and it is 

 saved and exported to England annually. As explained at 

 page 46, it is known abroad, not as Festuca elatior, but as 

 Festuca arundinacea. And Mr. Carruthers distinctly states 



