On the Black Foxtail Grasx, 
271 
perennial, grown on strong woodsour clay over the chalk, at an eleva- 
tion of some 500 or 600 I'ect above the level of the sea, in a tolerably 
well sheltered situation, but without any extraordinary manuring. 'I 
submit tliis to the inspection of the next committee, who will perceive 
that, beibrc the 1st of May, some of the stalks have put forth their 
flowers, and that the longest stalk has attained the length of nearly 3 feet 
5 inclies. Its bulk, hardihood, succulence, and precocity inspire me 
with the hope that the connnittee will think that, in pursuing the culture 
of this grass, I shall be making a useful acquisition to English hus- 
bandry. It thrives in the same soils as the other foxtails, a rich 
silicious soil with a competent mixture of argil, and grows freely from 
seed, provided it be not compressed in the earth, but sown on the sur- 
face ; and an experiment I accidentally made indicates that it will 
prove peculiarly valuable in water-meadows, as it thrives in humid places. 
Yours, &c., 
W. P. Taunton. 
Ashley, April 30lh, 1841. 
P.S. — I thought it better to send this specimen now, because if any 
gentlemen of the Council have recently left their own meadows or pas- 
tures in the country, they will be better able now, than in July, to 
appreciate a grass whose height exceeds 3 feet on the 30th of April. 
We have neither rye nor winter oats at this day equally full or 
productive. 
VII. — On some Varieties of the Foxtail Grass (Alope citrus). 
By W. P. Taunton. 
To Ph. Puseij, Eiq. 
Sir, — I am honoured with your inc^uiry touching Alopecurus nigricans, 
I am sorry that it is not in my power to communicate any scientific 
information, nor the result of any precise experiments, on the subject. 
The plant appearing to me so early and so bvtlky, and feeling con- 
fident that it possesses qualities analogous to those of other Alopecuri, 
of which we have my valued friend Mr. Sinclair's analysis, I have bent 
my whole efforts to increasing my stock of it, rather than to experiments 
on the use of it. This year I hand-reaped the heads, and afterwards 
mowed the lower part of the culm with the foliage, and gave it to a cow 
tied up in house, and to a colt and horse in stable. They all ate it freely 
and eagerly ; but I have no further observation recorded concerning it. 
The seed is ripe in the first week in June, which gives the opportunity 
of sowing it early enough to have the plant well established in the 
ground before winter — an advantage of great importance in those soils 
which are liable to a great degree of expansion from frost, and in that 
operation throw the infant grasses out of the soil, to perish under the 
March winds and May suns. I have not the advantage here of occupy- 
ing any land of a texture of soil the most congenial to the foxtails. Their 
favourite habitat is a loamy silicious moist sand, such as the green-sand 
