Mr.  William  Carrutliers. 
9 
L.  Faunce  De  Laune,  of  Sharsted  Court,  carried  on  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Society’s  Botanist.  His  views  were  clearly 
expressed  in  an  important  memoir  published  in  the  Society’s 
Journal  in  1882.  It  is  not  possible  to  speak  too  highly  of  the 
value  of  his  researches  to  the  Society  and  to  the  farmers  of 
England.  The  result  of  all  these  observations,  added  to  the 
experiments  of  Swayne,  Curtis,  Thornhill,  and  Sinclair,  was  to 
get  rid  of  many  worthless  and  second-rate  grasses,  and  to  limit 
the  kinds  of  grasses  used  to  those  that  were  palatable,  nutritious, 
and  perennial.  These  essential  grasses  were  found  to  be  cocks- 
foot, meadow  fescue,  foxtail,  timothy,  and  one  or  two  meadow 
grasses  (Poa),  with  white  clover  and  red,  but  unhappily  the 
only  perennial  red  clover,  though  a native  of  Britain — the 
true  “ cowgrass  ” {Trifolium  medium  Linn.) — cannot  yet  be 
obtained  in  quantity  sufficient  for  the  use  of  the  farmer. 
Pastures  have  been  laid  down  with  these  grasses  and  clovers, 
in  due  proportions,  which  have  prospered  for  years  without 
any  decline,  supplying  palatable  and  nutritious  food  for  all 
kinds  of  stock,  on  all  varieties  of  geological  formations.  The 
cost  of  laying  down  has  been  reduced,  and  with  the  good 
and  pure  seeds  that  can  now  be  procured  the  problem  of 
producing  a new,  good,  and  permanent  pasture  has  been  solved. 
Great  Merits  op  Timothy. 
An  important  result  of  the  experiments  carried  on  at  Woburn 
in  1887-1888  has  not  received  the  attention  it  deserves  from 
farmers.  These  demonstrated  the  greater  value  of  timothy 
over  rye-grass  for  short  lays.  The  feeding  value  of  timothy  is 
at  least  equal  to  that  of  rye-grass.  It  is  certainly  palatable  to 
stock.  Some  years  ago  the  General  Omnibus  Company  sought 
the  advice  of  the  Society’s  Botanist  as  to  the  Canadian  hay  it  had 
purchased  to  make  up  for  shortage  in  the  home  crop.  Timothy 
is  the  hay  grass  of  Canada,  and  it  was  the  only  grass  in  the  hay 
purchased.  Their  large  stud  was  fed  on  it  for  several  months  ; it 
proved  to  be  a palatable  and  nutritious  food.  The  green  pro- 
duce at  Woburn  for  the  two  years  named  was  at  the  rate  of 
6 tons  13  cwt.  per  acre  for  timothy,  while  perennial  rye-grass 
yielded  5 tons  11;^  cwt.,  and  Italian  5 tons  17^  cwt.,  the  same 
number  of  germinating  seeds  per  acre  being  sown  in  each  case. 
Timothy  is  without  any  doubt  a perennial  grass.  It  is  also  the 
cheapest  good  grass  in  the  market.  This  does  not  mean  that 
timothy  costs  less  per  lb.,  but  that  for  the  same  money  one  can 
buy  sufficient  seeds  to  produce  a larger  number* of  plants  than 
can  be  obtained  in  the  case  of  any  other  useful  grass.  From 
this  point  of  view  rye-grass  is  a costly  seed.  The  relative 
price  of  the  seeds,  as  plant  producers,  will  be  obvious  if  the 
cost  of  laying  down  an  acre  with  a single  kind  of  grass  is 
