fringed with white, spreading, bristly hairs ; each glume with a 
straight, short, rough awn, and a dilated, blunt, membranous 
margin. Nectaries egg-shaped, tapering to a point, surrounding 
the germen at the base. Anthers, first violet, then yellowish 
There is a variety of this (var. ft of Sir J. E. Smith) with a 
slightly tuberous root, a partly decumbent culm, and a shorter 
spike ; this is the Phleum pratense var. minus of Mr. Sinclair, 
and the Gramen typliinum minus of Ray : it is generally found in 
less fertile spots, and by way sides. Phleum nodosum of Linnajus, 
W illdenow, Leers, and Sinclair, is considered by Sir J. E. 
Smith, Dr. Withering, and several other writers, as not specifi- 
cally distinct from Phleum pratense, the principal difference con- 
sists in the Phleum nodosum having knee-bent culms, which are 
furnished with bulbs at the lower joints, and which, in time, become 
plants. 
Although the Phleum pratense is a native of Britain, and try no means un- 
common, yet it appears to have been first introduced to British farming from 
America, in 1763, by Mr. Wynch. it is said to have received the quaint name 
of Timothy Grass, from Mr. Timothy Hanson having first brought the seeds of it 
from New York to Carolina, about the same time that it was introduced into 
England. It had then a great character in America, where it is called Herd 
Grass ; and Mr. Sinclair informs us that be was, in 1815, informed by a pro- 
prietor of land in Canada, that it was still considered the best glass in that pro- 
vince; notwithstanding this, however, writers seem to differ much in their opi- 
nions with regard to the merits of this grass. Leers says, it is very grateful to 
horses.— K rock eh , that both horses and kine are fond of it green , and in hay . — 
Villars, that it affords excellent forage. Dr. Pulteney says, that notwith- 
standing the character which this acquired from Le Rocque’s recommendation, 
sheep dislike it; neither are cows or horses fond of it. — Mr. Swayne, that it is 
a hard coaise grass, of little value for cattle. — Mr. Curtis, that it is productive, 
but coarse and late, and that it has no excellence which Fo.v-tail-yrass ( Alo - 
pecurus pratensis, t. 45.) does not possess in an equal degree. Mr. G. Sin- 
clair, who has paid more attention to the British grasses than any other person 
ever has done, says, that “ the culms of this grass, at the time the seed is ripe, 
contain more nutritive matter than those of any other species of grass, which 
have been submitted to experiment. In regard to the early produce of herbage 
in the spring, it is superior to cock’s-foot grass. 'The weight of grass produced 
by each species at this season is nearly equal, but the nutritive powers of the 
herbage of the Timothy is superior to the cock’s-foot, in the proportion of nine 
to eight. Though the nutritive matter contained in the seed crop is greater than 
at the season of flowering, nevertheless the seed of the latter-math, or the pro- 
duce of herbage which would follow the period from flowering to seeding, would 
greatly outweigh this advantage, and it is therefore proper to take the crop when 
the plant is in flower, or a little after, but before the seed be perfected. When 
tire season is dry, the crop should be taken as soon as the flowering spikes show 
their anthers; but when moist and cloudy, it is more profitable to suffer a week 
or a fortnight to elapse before cutting for hay. It is not adapted for dry sandy 
soils, but in all those of an intermediate quality it is permanent and valuable 
when combined in a due proportion with other grasses. The quantity of seed in 
general cases for an acre, combined with a due proportion of other grasses, is 
five pounds. It is of great impoi tance to the agriculturist to be able to distin- 
guish this variety from the smaller variety, or Ph. pratense minus, which is a 
worthless grass, and differs from the true Timothy grass in having the awns of 
the calyx-glumes longer, and recurved ; the husks are longer in every respect, 
and less ciliated or fringed. The culms are almost covered with the sheaths of 
the leaves, the joints of the straw are less swoln, and it does not grow upright, 
but ascending, and the root is more like a bulb. Cattle appear to dislike this 
variety much, and it is a grass to be avoided. The proportional value which the 
produce of this variety bears to that of the true one, is as twenty-five to eight.” — 
See Baxt. Lib. of Ayr. and Hort. Knowl. p. 302. 
Hysterium yramineum of Persoon, is frequently found parasitical on the 
dead culms and leaves of this and other grasses about Oxford. 
