1865.1 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
115 
Fig. 9.— SWEET-SCENTED VERNAL GRASS. 
Talks About Grass.III. 
In the article last month upon Orchard and 
Kentucky Blue Grass, some practical remarks 
upon their culture were promised. These are 
given elsewhere in separate articles. One grass 
chosen for description, at the present time, is 
the Sweet-scented Vernal Grass —Anthoxanihum 
odoratum. This can hardly be called a valuable 
grass, 3 ’^et it is one wc would not willingly do 
without, as it is this which fills the air with 
fragrance, when “ The ripe harvest of the new- 
mown hay gives it a sweet and wholesome odor.” 
It is a grass which readily “ comes in ” upon 
meadow's, and growing here and there in tufts, 
imparts its peculiar odor to the hay with which 
it is cured. It has a perennial root, and its 
foliage appears very early in spring. The en¬ 
graving, fig. 9, shows the manner of flowering, 
the flow'ers forming a loose spike, appearing 
in May. When the structure of tlie flowers or 
spikelets is exam.ned, it will be found to be 
quite different from that of either of the grasses 
already described in these articles. In fig. 10, a 
magnified spikelet is shown at the top of the 
figure, and below its parts are shown separate 
and still more enlarged. The glumes, a, h, are 
as in the other figures; within these are a couple 
of empty palese, c, d, without any stamens or 
pistils within them, and each furnished with a 
long bristle or awn; above these are shown two 
paleee, e, /, of a difiTerent shape, which enclose 
the stamens and pistil, g, h. Comparing this 
with the enlarged figure of the Orchard grass 
(fig. 6 of last month), it will be seen that it is a 
three-flowered grass, of which only one flower, 
the central one, is perfect, i. e., bears stamens, 
and pistil, while the side flow'ers, c, d, fig. 10, 
are abortive, and each reduced to a single empty 
palea. This grass does not find mueh favor 
among our farmers, but in England it is valued 
to tdz with other grasses for pasturage, both on 
account of its earliness and the late feed it fur¬ 
nishes in deep, moist soils. It has been asserted 
tliat the high flavor of the butter produced in 
certain locali¬ 
ties is due to 
the abundance 
of the Vernal 
Grass. The pe¬ 
culiar vanilla¬ 
like odor is most 
perceptible if 
tbe grass be a 
little wilted. In 
some parts of 
theWest, where 
this grass has 
not made its 
way, we have 
noticed that the 
hay fields are 
quite without 
the delightful 
fragrance that 
they have in 
older parts of 
the countiy. It 
is the odor, as 
well as the car- Fig. 10. —spikelet of fig. 9. 
liness of the grass, which gives the popular 
name of Sweet-scented Vernal Grass. The name 
Anthoxanihum is from the Greek, meaning “flow¬ 
er of flowers,” while the application of the 
specific name, odoratum, is sufficiently obvious. 
• Another grass often seen in our fields may be 
noticed here, as, like the Sweet-scented Vernal 
Grass, it becomes readily introduced. It is the 
Velvet Grass, or Meadow Soft-Grass (Eolcus 
lanatm), which is readily distinguished by the 
velvety character of its stem and leaves, and 
the very pale and whitish color of its flower 
clusters. The general appearance of this grass 
is shown in fig. H. When the spikelets are ex¬ 
amined, they are found to be two-flowered; the 
lower flower having both pistil and stamens, 
while the upper one is imperfeet, producing 
stamens only. The lower palea of the upper 
flower bears a short arrm or bristle. This grass 
is very little eaten by cattle, and it is usually 
regarded as a worthless intruder. It is said to 
be valued in some of the Southern States, where 
good grasses are exceedingly scarce, but no 
Northern farmer would think of cultivating it. 
Kentucky Blue Grass.—Culture. 
This kind of grass flourishes well in all our 
grain growing regions; and in man}' places 
where the soil is better adapted to dairying than 
raising grain, Kentucky Blue Grass has no suc¬ 
cessful rival, except where there is an excess of 
moisture in the soil. On tbe table lands and 
river bottoms of Central and Western New- 
York, and on the wheal soils of Ohio and other 
Western States, where the land has been under¬ 
drained, or is naturally dry enough for raising 
good crops of grain, this grass grows luxuriant¬ 
ly. On the slopes of the Lakes in the State ot 
New York, it grows well; and where the soil is 
naturally fertile, it will take complete possession 
as soon as the timber is removed. Where the tim¬ 
ber is tall, and there is little shrubbery and under¬ 
brush in the woods, Kentucky Blue Grass often 
forms a beautiful tender turf all over the forest. 
In those grain-growing localities where a crop of 
Red Clover constitutes one of a four, or five years’ 
rotation, this grass is sometimes a little trouble¬ 
some, as it will often supplant a large proportion 
of the Red Clover; and when Indian corn, pota¬ 
toes, or other root crops are grown in such 
fields, the Kentuckj' Blue Grass will often spring 
up in a few days and cover the surface of the 
ground. But if it be not allowed to cast its seed, 
and the soil is cultivated every j'ear, it will be 
no more troublesome than Red-top or Timothy. 
The chief excellencies of the Kentucky Blue 
Grass are; it starts veiy early in the spring, thus 
affording early pasture; it will grow very rap¬ 
idly after it has been grazed off; it will furnish 
more late fall feed than most other grasses; and 
it is better than almost any other grass to sow 
with either Red or White Clover and Orchard 
Grass, for forming a good sod, which is so desir¬ 
able in pasture fields, especially where heavy 
animals are allowed to graze. It will not 
flourish as luxuriantly on our heavy clay soils, 
as it will on light soils; and we would not 
recommend it as a good grass for heavy soils, 
except when the object is early pasture or early 
hay; and even then it should be sowed with 
clover and Orchard Grass. When it is de¬ 
signed for hay it should always be mow¬ 
ed early before the seed has matured, as the 
seed stalks will be very wiry and tough if they 
are not cut while they are quite green. In case 
a field is to be pastured, it is important to graze 
it off early in the former part of the season, and 
not allow it to grow large before stock are turned 
on it. Kentucky Blue Grass is very nutritious. 
All kinds of stock like it well, and it will afford 
a large amount of good pasture if it receive 
the proper management. For hay, Timothy is 
much superior to this grass, especially for mark¬ 
et. Where the soil is not wet, and is in a good 
state of fertilitj', and grass is desired for dairy 
purposes, it is probable no other pasture will 
yield a larger quantity of butter and cheese, 
than Kentucky Blue Grass and Red and White 
Clover, with the addition of Orchard Grass. 
Thickly seeded, and kept closely mowed, this 
grass is almost unsurpassed for the lawn. 
