SEA MATWEED. RAY GRASS. 37 
the dried roots, a flour may be made, which is capable 
of being converted into a wholesome and nutritive 
bread. 
50. SEA MATWEED (Anmdo arenaria, Fig. 34-) 
is an useful and common plant on most of our sandy 
sea shores. Its cultivation has, at various times, 
been much encouraged, and even acts of parliament 
have been passed for its preservation, in consequence of 
its spreading roots giving stability to the loose, blow- 
ing sand, and thus raising a bulwark against the en- 
croachments of the waves. The Dutch are said to have 
availed themselves of the advantage of these plants in 
securing and rendering firm several parts of their coasts, 
which would otherwise have suffered much injury. 
At Newborough, a town on the south coast of the 
island of Anglesea, the inhabitants manufacture this 
plants into mats and ropes ; and the Danes employ the 
fibrous roots for making whisk brushes. 
The common people of Iceland collect the seeds of 
the sea matweed for making bread. 
51. RYE GRASS, or RAY GRASS (Lolium pe- 
renne, Fig. 35), has, of late years, been cultivated in 
some countries, to considerable extent, as fodder for 
cattle. Its agricultural merits were first discovered in 
Norfolk, and, thence, the seeds have been distributed 
through the greater part of the kingdom ; those who 
purchase them little suspecting that the plant was a 
weed in their own fields. In dry pastures, and by road 
sides, this kind of grass is extremely common. 
When sown in high or sandy lands, either alone or 
mixed with clover, it yields an earlier crop than most 
other grasses ; and thus affords food at a season when it 
is sometimes difficult otherwise to be obtained. The 
ray grass that grows wild is stated to be much superior 
to that which is obtained by cultivation ; and we are 
informed that, if sown in a rich and fertile soil, it will 
dwindle in a few years to a poor and insignificant 
grass. 
