﻿Localities. — In meadows, hedges, and shady places. Common. 



Perennial — Flowers from June to September. 



Root fibrous, tufted. Culm upright, from 1 to 3 feet high ; 

 somewhat compressed, slightly 2-edged, leafy below, naked and 

 roughish above. Leaves strap-shaped, flat, pointed, from 6 inches 

 to a foot and a half long, dull green, spreading, striated, harsh, 

 rough, chiefly at the edges. Sheaths ( vagina J rough, keeled, com- 

 pressed. Stipula fligula) white, oblong, blunt, mostly torn. Pa- 

 nicle alternately branched ; branches angular, stiff, very rough, 

 spreading, especially the lowermost, each bearing a compound, egg- 

 shaped or globular, dense tuft, of unilateral, bristly, crowded spike- 

 lets. Calyx membranous, very unequal ; the outer valve (glume) 

 3-ribbed, rough at the keel. Florets 3 or 4, rarely 1 only ; outer 

 valve (palea) of the Corolla 5-ribbed, rough at the keel, with a short 

 awn-like point ; inner valve (palea) fringed at the ribs. Anthers of 

 a pale violet colour, or yellow, changing to white. 



The Cock’s-foot is a rough coarse grass, and hence the names of Rough-grass 

 and Hard-grass ; but it is extremely hardy, productive, and rather early. Its 

 flourishing under the drip of trees may be a recommendation, but the head is so 

 large, that in heavy rains it is apt to be laid. It should always be cut whilst 

 young and tender, either for hay or fodder. The late Mr. G. Sinclair con- 

 sidered it one of the most valuable of the grasses. “ It springs very quickly 

 after being cropped, and continues productive, with little interruption, through- 

 out the season. Like every other of the more valuable pasture grasses, it will 

 not, when sown by itself, form a close sward, but becomes tufty. When sown 

 in certain proportions according to the soil, in combination with others, it is a 

 very profitable plant. It requires to be depastured closely, under every circum- 

 stance, to reap the full advantage of its great merits. In the pastures most 

 celebrated for fattening and keeping the largest quantity of stock in Devonshire, 

 Lincolnshire, and in the Vale of Aylesbury, which we minutely and carefully 

 examined, we found Cock’s-foot in every instance to constitute a portion of the 

 herbage. In the most skilfully managed of these pastures, the foliage or herbage 

 of the Cock’s-foot was only distinguished by an experienced eye from that of 

 the Alopecurus pratensis (see t. 45), Pda pratensis, Pda trivialis, Lolium 

 perinne, Cynosurus cristdtus, and other fine-leaved grasses, a fact which proves 

 the futility of the objections that have been raised without due consideration 

 against Cock’s-foot, as to its being a coarse grass. It. wants only to be com- 

 bined with others in due proportion to the nature of the soil, and judiciously de- 

 pastured, to render it equal, if not superior in value to any of the superior or 

 essential pasture grasses. It flowers from June till August, ripens its seeds in 

 July, or if the herbage of Spring is eaten dorvn to a late period, the seed does not 

 ripen until August, or even the beginning of September. The late Mr. Roger 

 Parker, of Munden, Herts, was the first who collected the seed in any con- 

 siderable bulk for farm practice, w hich was afterwards extended and brought into 

 more general notice by Mr. Coke, of Norfolk.” Sinclair, in Baxter's Library 

 of Agricultural and Horticultural Knowledge. 



