ALFRED BROWN ON GRASSES AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 2ig 
first grasses to come away in the spring. It is much used in lawn 
grass mixtures and for sowing in shaded situations. 
trivialis, or rough-stalked meadow grass. This grass very 
closely resembles another Poa^ namely the smooth-stalked meadow 
grass, Poa pratensis, and it is often mistaken for this variety, as the 
roughness is sometimes scarcely sufficient to distinguish between the 
two ; but there is one interesting and important difference between 
them, and it is this, while they both have procumbent or creeping 
stems, those of trivialis lie along the surface of the soil, whereas those 
of pratensis creep underground. 
This, of course, has an important bearing on the agricultural value 
of the two grasses, as trivialis^ on account of its exposed stolons, is 
more adapted for use in moist meadows; while pratensis^ with its 
stolons running underground, can defy drought, and is therefore 
peculiarly adapted to grow in dry, loose soils, where other grasses, at 
least the stronger growing species, such as timothy and cocksfoot, 
would not succeed. These properties also make it useful as a lawn 
grass. 
Then there are the dwarfer-growing varieties of fescue; namely, 
the hard fescue, Festuca duriuscula; the sheep’s fescue, Festuca 
ovina; and the fine-leaved fescue, Festuca tenuifolia. These, from 
an agricultural point of view, may all be classed as one, as the differ¬ 
ence is purely botanical, all of them possessing the same properties, 
and the difference in their appearance to the ordinary observer being 
scarcely noticeable. 
Their principal merits lie in their growing on poor, sandy soil, 
and their power of withstanding drought. Their produce is not 
heavy, therefore they should not be sown thickly in meadows where 
better grasses would thrive. 
These grasses, perhaps more particularly the hard fescue, form 
the greater part of the high-lying pastures in our highlands. 
Agrostis alba var. stolonifera^ fine bent grass or Florin. This 
grass has been experimented with for a number of years, and has had 
a great deal said both for and against it, but on the whole it has not 
proved itself of much value to the farmer. It is a difficult grass to 
grow from seed, the most successful plan for its culture being to 
plant the young stolons or cuttings. 
The common agrostis, Agrostis vulgaris., is of little use, unless it 
be for growing in lawns. It has the merit of growing freely in dry, 
exposed situations, where other grasses would not survive. 
The next is one of the best known and most useful of all our 
grasses, Loliuin perenne, or, as it is commonly known, perennial rye¬ 
grass. This grass the farmer trusts to more than any other, with, 
perhaps, the exception of Italian ryegrass, for the bulk of his hay 
