238 On Laying down Land to Permanent Grass. 
Mr. Toogood, under the heading of Festuca pratensis, sajs : 
" this is one of the most nutritious and productive of the natural 
grasses, as it contains many of the properties without the defects 
of our common rye-grass." But when he holds such an opinion 
as this, how can he recommend the sowing of rye-grass, with its 
acknowledged defects, on soils suitable for the nutritious and 
productive meadow fescue? 
Thus far I have examined the trade pamphlets of seed mer- 
chants. I will now refer to works containing the results of 
investigations by practical and scientific men unconnected with 
the seed-trade. 
The best book, in my judgment, for practical knowledge 
respecting cultivation of grass is Sinclair's ' Hortus Gramineus 
VVoburnensis,' in which the most exact information can be found 
in regard to all our grasses ; and although the scientific experi- 
ments made by Sir Humphrey Davy as to the feeding properties 
of the different grasses may be considered antiquated and 
deficient in the minute analyses with which we are familiar in 
our days, they nevertheless afford a fair indication of the relative 
values of the grasses, and may, I believe, be trusted in determin- 
ing our selection of seeds. Some of the statements respecting 
the value of different grasses given by Sinclair are so astonish- 
ing that one may well hesitate to believe them, yet so accurate 
were his observations and so careful his experiments that I 
cannot discredit them without the strongest evidence. The 
statement that appears most open to objection and the most 
difficult to believe is, perhaps, the following ■.' — •" Let the pro- 
duce and nutritive powers of rye-grass be compared with those 
of the cocksfoot grass, and it will be found inferior in the pro- 
portion of nearly 5 to 18, and also inferior to meadow foxtail in the 
proportion of 5 to 12, and inferior to the meadow fescue in the 
proportion of 5 to 17. In these comparisons, from which the 
above proportions arose, it was necessary to omit the seed crops 
for the truth of comparison." — (P. 215.) 
My own experience convinces me that these proportionate 
estimates of Sinclair's are correct. Donaldson, however, in 
his work on grasses, on page 281, says, "the results above 
quoted will be received with much caution as practice in a 
great measure reverses them. No practical man will be con- 
vinced that (rye- or) ray-grass is inferior to cocksfoot, as 5 to 18 
in any one respect, the latter being a very coarse grass and unfit 
for hay on any good lands, and chiefly adapted for pasturage on 
inferior soils." While Donaldson thus sets aside Sinclair's 
comparative value of cocksfoot and rye-grass, he appears to 
accept the comparative values given by Sinclair of other grasses. 
But if Sinclair is correct in the majority of cases, why should he 
be in error in this one, more especially as it is apparent through- 
