^^^e^ff^il^^flfe'fe^M^^^^^^^ ftft ®?Sfi loon after 'being gathered, expand its Glumes 

 und expole its delicate yellow Stamina, unci ffill more 'delicate PifB'la, and in this expanded ft ate each Spicuh puts 

 on a very different face, and feems to invite the Student to its inveftigation, and would he \vifh to become acquainted 



with the ftru&ure of this ufeful tribe of plants, he cannot feleft one more proper for his purpoie, as it may 

 found inairablt every watery ditch, flowering from the beginning to Vh'e end of Summer, tind has all the parts 

 fructification which are peculiar to the Grants, large enough to 'be diftihaiy dilce'riied eVen by the naked E 



and lb expofed as to be vifible without the trouble of difieclion. 



be 



parts of 

 the naked Eye, 



hcra in a much clearer point of view than has yet been done by any au'th6r. 



Profeffor Order i'h his Flora DanicA, andtlie celebrated Schrerer in his Agrostogr AphiA, have/both given 

 a figure of this grafs. As we have not feen it growing either in Denmark or Germany we cannot lay that their figures 

 dp not exnrefs fts particular mode of growth in " 1 

 growing here ; ( in both their figures the Panicle 

 inclined ; this however is a matter of no great m 

 parts of the fructification is a matter of much greater confluence, and we are lorry to find that Mr. :k:-[ii^i;ER whole 

 knowledge and accuracy can fieldom he called in queftion, has not been fiulliciently Attentive to all the parts which 

 characterize this fpecies. He has reprefented the Styles as branched or feathered quite down to the Germen, whereas 

 they are evidently naked at bottom and ihuc'h branched at top only ; the lingular Squnmula or Scale at the bale of the Ger- 

 -men.he has properly noticed,, but the two little Horns at the top of the feed, which are tjhe remains of the Styles, and 

 which in a peculiar" manner diftinguilh this important feed, he does not remark. In the 'Flora Danica the Styles are 

 likewife feathered down to the Germen and the Squamula at the ba'fe of the Germen wholly omitted. 



This Grafs is found to he of cohiiderable importance in the ceconomy of Nature. 



ticular manner of finding it we lhall give under that grais. 



From the observations of late writers, it appears that fevefM loft's of Cattle are remarkably fond of this grafs, 

 particularly Kine and Hogs, and that in the fpring time they are frequently enticed into bogs by endeavouring to get at 

 its fweet young moots, which appear earlier than thofe of moit other Grarfes. 



iey ate it feemingly with as much appe 

 " wet •arid fwampy places might be rendered ufeful, and a great deal of corn, &c. laved". 



He who Introduced the method of feeding hogs in fummer time on Glover, deferred very well of his country ; and 

 if the hay of this grafs would keep them in heart during the winter, it might prove a very valuable difcovery. 



affnr'e 



forms \ 



preffure bring the alimal meadow-grafs, fo flooding immediately begets the jlote jefcue. Thefe after tions of Mr. Kent 

 befpeak neither the Phiiofopher nor the accurately fractal Farmer, they contain an exaggerated account ofimproying 

 p ailute land by a particular procefs, but mow a great want of that minute attention which fb important a fubje£t required. 



From a long refidence in Hampfhire, we well know that the meadows in that county are confiderably improved by 

 flooding them, that is flopping the water when there happens to be an unufual quantity from violent or long continu- 

 ed rallYs, and by means of trenches or gripes, conveying the furplus water fo as to overflow them entirely if pofli- 

 ble ; but we deny, that by this procefs all weeds are deftroyed, the life of manure fuperfeded, or that fate f e feu e graft 

 is immediately begotten. Although it is a conftant practice with the farmers to flood their meadows in the winter, it 

 is ho leis I conftant practice with fuch as wifh to have good crops of grafs to manure them with dung or allies 

 Flooding can no otherwife deftroy weeds than by altering the foil in which they grow, and if it deflroys one fet of 

 weeds, it muff certainly favour the growth of another : if thofe. plants which throve befit in a dry fituation are deftroyed 

 by the alteration which now takes place in the foil, thofe which are fond of a moift fituation will proportionably flou- 

 rilh If the jlote fejeue graft was immediately produced by flooding, we mould find all thofe meadows which have 

 undergone this operation to contain nothing but this kind of grafs, whereas the richeft and bell meadows in Hampfhire 

 contain fcarce a fmgle blade of it : the fact is, this grafs will not nonrifh |fi meadow land, unlefs you convert it into a 

 kind of. Hog or fwamp^ and I believe few landed Gentlemen will think this an improvement, or thank Mr. Kent for 

 giving them fuch a hint. 



"Mr. Stillingfleet informs us that Mr. Deane a very fenfible Farmer at Rufcomb, in Berkfhire, a'fiu red him, that 

 " a field always lying under water of about Four acres, that was occupied by his father when he was a boy, was covered 

 " with a kind of grafs that maintained five farm-horfes in good heart from April to the end of harveft without giving 

 " them any other food, and that it yielded more than they could eat. He at my deiire brought me fome of the 

 ** grafs, which proved to bethejte jefcue with a mixture ofmarjh bent; whether this laft contributes much towards 

 *' furhifhing fo good pafture for horfes I cannot lay, they both throw out roots at the joints of the flalks and therefore 

 "likely to grow to a great length. In the index of dubious plants at the "end of Ray's S/nopfts, there is mention 

 " made of a grafs under the name oi Gr amen cam num [upinum longijfimum growing not far from Saljbury twenty-four feet 

 *' long ; this muff by its length be a grafs with a creeping ftalk : and that there is a grafs in Wiltlhire, growing in 

 " watery meadows, fo valuable that an acre of it lets from ten to twelve pounds, I have been informed by feveral 

 " perfons. Thefe circumflances incline me to think it mull be the fete fejeue ■; but whatfoever grafs it be it certain- 

 " ly muff deferve to be enquired after". 



It may not be improper to add, that the account of the extraordinary long grafs above mentioned, was taken by 

 Ray from the Phytographia Briiannica, which mentions the particular foot where it grew, viz. at Mr. Tucker's, at 

 Maddington, nine miles from Salilbury ; it is alio remarked that they fat Hogs with it. 



As it is now above a century fince this enquiry was firft made, is it not furprizing that no fucceeding Botanic Wri- 

 ter mould have acquired fatisfaclory information concerning it ? I am promifed ipecimen's of the roots and feeds. 



Upon 



