The Herbage of Old drass Lands. 
441 
easily by Trifolium repens ; whilst it deserves to be noted that 
Medicago lupulina was uever once discovered. 
The verdict which these turfs have given in favour of Lolium 
perenne and Trifolium repens has led me to look elsewhere in 
order to discover, if possible, any confirmatory evidence. In 
France the rich grass lands of Normandy do not differ greatly 
in their climatal surroundings from many of those of England, 
and a knowledge of their botanical composition would for pur- 
poses of comparison be very valuable. In a recently published 
work, " Herbages et Prairies naturelles," the outcome of thirty 
years' patient study and observation, M. Amedee Boitel, Membre 
de la Societe nationale d'Agi'iculture, supplies information of 
the kind required. The meadows and pastures of Normandy, 
M. Boitel tells us, are everywhere of good quality. In 1885 
very exact observations were made upon the pastures of Cotentin, 
the native home of the Cotentin breed of cattle. A good 
meadow situated near Saint-L6, due south of Isigny and west 
of Caen, and resting on a schistose soil, yielded 50 per cent, 
of gramineous herbage, 40 per cent, of leguminous herbage, and 
10 per cent, of miscellaneous herbage. The grasses, arranged 
in the order of their abundance, are : — 
Lolium perenne ^ Anthoxanthum odoratum, fairly 
TT 1 1 i f very common ' •' 
Holcus lanatus / •' common 
Cynosurus cristatus 1 Agrostis alba ^ 
Dactylis glomerata I Bromus mollis >rare 
Poa prat^ensis j Festuca elatior J 
Poa trivialis J 
The leguminous herbage is made up almost entirely of Trifolium . 
repens and Trifolium pratense. 
In the Duchy of Coigny, in the Department of the Manche, 
the best pastures rest upon an old alluvium, enriched by the 
calcareous detritus of oolitic rocks. The herbage is 60 per cent, 
gramineous and 40 per cent, leguminous, the miscellaneous 
species being utterly insignificant in quantity. The grasses are 
the following : — 
Holcus lanatus, very common C3'nosurus cristatus"] 
Lolium perenne 1 Poa pratensis V fairly common 
Anthoxanthum odoratum >common Festuca rubra J 
Bromus mollis J Dactylis glomerata, rare 
The leguminous plants are chiefly Trifolium repens, Trifolium 
pratense, and Trifolium minus, the remainder being Lotus 
corniculatus. 
The pastures of Isigny rest upon a very fertile fluvio-marine 
alluvium, and are classed among the most fertile and the most 
productive of France. Ope of these celebrated pastures, situated 
