702  On  Sweet  Vernal  Grass  and  Golden  Oat  Grass, 
will,  if  known,  induce  many  farmers  to  keep  accounts  who 
hitherto  have  not  done  so,  and  enable  those  who  have  kept 
accounts  to  do  so  more  easily,  we  ask  the  Council  to  authorise 
the  Secretary  to  supply  all  booksellers  who  desire  to  publish 
them  with  the  several  forms.  They  would  be  more  generally 
adopted  by  farmers  if  published  in  their  own  localities,  than  if 
only  obtainable  in  London. 
C.  Randell. 
Wm.  Frankish. 
Reginald  A.  Warren. 
XXIX. — On  Sweet  Vernal  Grass  and  Golden  Oat  Grass,  and 
their  Adulteration.  By  William  Carruthers,  F.R.S. 
Sweet  Vernal  Grass  ( Anthoxanthum  odoratum,  Linn.)  Fig  1 a, 
is  one  of  the  most  widely  distributed  of  our  indigenous  grasses. 
It  is  found  flourishing  in  all  kinds  of  soils — in  rich  meadows  and 
dry  pastures,  in  bogs  and  woods,  and  on  barren  hill-sides.  It  is 
one  of  the  earliest  grasses,  showing  its  flowering  heads  even  at 
the  end  of  April,  and  it  sends  up  flowering  stems  all  through 
the  season.  Whatever  benefit  may  be  derived  from  its  pre- 
sence in  pastures  is  due  to  its  early  foliage,  which  at  the  best  is 
but  scanty,  and  is  never  a favourite  food  of  any  kind  of  stock, 
though  in  this  early  state  it  is  eaten  with  the  other  palatable 
grasses  of  the  pasture.  Whether  it  is  better  liked  by  cattle  as  a 
food  when  dry  is  doubtful,  but  it  is  certain  that  its  extremely 
fragrant  odour  enhances  the  money-value  of  hay  in  the  eyes  of 
both  seller  and  buyer.  It  is  a perennial  grass,  and  deserves  a 
place,  though  not  an  important  one,  in  permanent  pastures. 
But  the  benefits  sweet  vernal  grass  may  give  to  a pasture 
are  entirely  wanting  from  the  allied  species,  the  seeds  of  which 
are  very  largely  sold  in  its  stead.  This  plant,  called  Anthoxan- 
thum Puelii,  Lee.  and  Lam.,  Fig.  1 h,  is  an  annual  grass,  found 
throughout  Central  and  Southern  Europe,  and  extending  as  far 
north  as  Holland  and  Belgium ; but  whether  in  these  two 
countries  it  is  an  introduced  or  an  indigenous  plant  I have  not 
the  means  of  determining.  It  is  a smaller  and  more  delicate 
grass,  branching  very  freely  from  the  root,  and  producing  a large 
number  of  flowering  stems.  The  plant  has  scarcely  any  odour, 
either  when  green  or  dried.  The  foliage  is  small,  and  not  abun- 
dant. The  substitution,  therefore,  of  its  seeds  for  the  perennial 
sweet  vernal  grass  is  a serious  injury,  and  the  increasing  pro- 
portion of  samples  that  have  during  the  year  come  under  my 
notice  prove  that  this  adulteration  is  on  the  increase. 
The  introduction  of  Anthoxanthum  Puelii  by  seedsmen,  and 
