BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 125 
there can be no doubt of its being a very good and nourishing pasturage 
plant for both cattle and sheep; but it is by no means adapted for hay 
or soiling. On dry soils it affords little herbage, and is often left 
untouched by cattle. It has been made use of in some parts of York- 
shire as a summer grass. As an article of pasturage for cattle and 
sheep, it is there in high esteem; it is not, however, well eaten by 
horses. As an article of hay it is held to be detrimental to the crop, 
retaining its sap an unusual length of time, and when fully dry falling 
into a small compass, or being broken into fragments and left behind 
on the field.” 
Sprengel* wrote of the narrow-leaved plantain as follows : — 
“Though classed among the worst kinds of weeds by some writers, it 
nevertheless belongs among the plants that are worthy of cultivation, 
since it affords a healthy and nutritious fodder. It is better suited for 
pasturage than for mowing; and since it is greedily eaten by sheep, 
since it can be pastured incessantly without injury, and since it lasts 
for several years, we have in it a plant particularly well fitted for the 
improvement of sheep-walks. . . . It begins to vegetate very early in 
the spring, and, when continually pastured, does not cease to grow until 
checked by the autumn frosts. . . . One evidence that it belongs among 
the best pasture plants is to be found in the fact that it is commonly 
found most abundantly in those pastures which are most highly es- 
teemed for fattening animals and for producing milk.” 
The Rev. C. W. Howard,f of Kingston, Georgia, in his essay on 
the grasses of the south, commends the narrow-leaved plantain in the 
following terms : — 
“Tt will live at the South on the poorest land, but is valuable only 
on good land. If not grazed during the summer, it will afford a con- 
siderable amount of winter food. Cattle, horses, and sheep eat it in 
winter with avidity. Hogs are not fond of it. It is a useful constitu- 
ent of a winter pasture at the south, and its growth is therefore en- 
couraged on this farm.” 
The table of Linnzus, in “ U. S. Patent Office Report,” 1847, 514, 
reports that the green plant is eaten by sheep, horses, and goats, but 
not by oxen; upon which Loudon in his “ Encyclopedia of Plants,” 
comments as follows: “ Haller attributes the richness of the milk in 
* Erdmann’s “ Journal fiir techn. und cekon. Chemie,” 1829, 5. 143. 
t “U.S. Patent Office Report,” 1860, p. 280. 
