762 
The Composition of some of the 
of them (Table X.) did it form a predominant element. It is 
remarkable how rare this grass is in these natural pastures. 
According to the statistical method of determining the value of 
a grass, meadow fescue should be excluded from all mixtures for 
laying down permanent pasture. Yet its excellences are so 
fully recognised that it is included in all such mixtures. 
Table X. — Predominant Grasses— Meadow Fescue, Fiorin, ' 
and Yorkshire Fog. 
No. 
Pasture 
Cocksfoot 
Meadow fescue 
| Foxtail 
| Timothy 
l Rough-stalked 
meadow-grass 
Yellow oat-grass 
ci 
to 
w 
Fiorin 
Hard fescue 
- 
s 
o 
a 
| Tall oat-grass 
"cj 
> 
CJ 
<D 
m 
Squirrel-tail 1 
Hassock-grass | 
Brome-grass 
Yorkshire fog 
Clover 
o 
u 
a 
!* 
ce 
1 
5> 
a 
59 
The Park . . 
A 
r 
A 
A 
P 
A 
C 
P 
C 
P, predominant. A, abundant. C, common. 
10. Pastures where Cocksfoot predominates, alone or with other 
grasses. 
The terms coarse and fine, as applied to grasses, have intro- 
duced much error into the estimate of their value. Many fine 
grasses are of little or no value in meadows, while some valuable 
grasses have been rejected because they are coarse. And no 
grass has had its character more traduced by the application to 
it of the term " coarse " than cocksfoot. Curtis excludes it from 
his list of best grasses, and represents it as a rough, coarse, 
hardy, early, and productive grass. His editor, John Lawrence, 
in the fifth edition (1812), says that it "has, of late years, 
become a favourite object of culture, as a separate grass, with 
some eminent and extensive farmers, on account of its certainty 
of growth, early use, abundant quantity, and accommodation of 
itself to almost all sorts of soils. It is necessary, as with all 
coarse grasses, to feed or cut early, and most particularly on rich 
and moist soils ; with which precaution, the cocksfoot, being 
young, tender, and juicy, is said not only to be very nutritious, 
but well affected by all sorts of cattle. Its second product is to 
be depended upon for quantity." Tliese diverse views persist in 
our own day. In some places cocksfoot is treated as a pest, to 
be eradicated, in others esteemed as the most valuable grass in 
the pasture. It is certain that the best pastures on medium 
soils that I have examined throughout England have owed much 
of their feeding value to the presence of cocksfoot in consider- 
able abundance. Whenever a field was fairly stocked, and the 
