RY EGRASS. 
duce, than either Whitworth’s or Pacey’s varie- 
ties. 
The Church-bennet or Church-bent ryegrass 
is an excellent variety, cultivated in some parts 
of Berkshire.—Molle’s ryegrass is a favourite va- 
riety in some districts ; and though of a rather 
slender habit, grows tall, and yields a very bulky 
produce.—Stickney’s ryegrass was introduced by 
Mr. Stickney of Holderness; and resembles 
Molle’s in habit; but is stronger, more enduring, 
and both earlier and later.—Pollexfen’s ryegrass 
was raised by Mr. Pollexfen of Kirkwall in Ork- 
ney ; and resembles Stickney’s ; but has a darker 
green colour. 
Seven pretty distinct varieties of ryegrass, 
which have received botanical designations, are 
described almost well enough by their mere 
names,—the more so as their peculiar characters 
possess far more interest for the mere botanist 
than for the farmer. These varieties are the 
slender, Z. p. tenue, an inhabitant of dry impo- 
verished pasture land; the humble, L. p. humle, 
only 6 or 7 inches high; the branchy, Z. p. ra- 
mosum,; the paniculate, LZ. p. paniculatum ; the 
many-flowered, L. p. multiflorum ; the monstrous, 
L. p. monstrosum; and the viviparous, L. p. vivi- 
parum. 
The spreading ryegrass is remarkably stoloni- 
ferous, and differs very evidently from a stoloni- 
ferous variety mentioned by Sinclair, and is pro- 
bably entitled to rank as a separate species, under 
the name of Lolium stoloniferum. Messrs. Law- 
son obtained seeds of it from Germany, and notice 
it as follows in their Agriculturalist’s Manual :— 
“Tt was about a fortnight longer in running to 
seed in the nursery than any of the other varie- 
ties of ryegrass, and produced comparatively few 
flower-stalks. It is of early spring growth, push- 
ing out long prostrate stolons or shoots, with an 
abundance of foliage, so that one plant, by the 
time the spikes begin to appear, will form a close 
tuft, extending from 2 to 3 feet in diameter. 
These shoots, however, although lying on the 
ground, never attempted to strike root until 
near the end of the season, and even then very 
sparingly. Entire height about 15 or 18 inches 
from the surface; but the length from the root 
to the point of the spike is often nearly 3 feet ; 
spike long and slender ; spikelets remote, small, 
and few seeded.” 
The thick-stalked ryegrass is noticed as follows 
in the same work :—“ This variety was procured 
from Vilmorin & Co., Paris, under the name of 
Lolium grossum. It is nearly as remarkable for 
its stiff and upright habit of growth as the last 
is for its slender stoloniferous habit. Height 
about 20 inches ; spike about 8 inches long, and 
very broad ; spikelets, which are very long, placed 
so that the point of the one reaches to the 
base of the next above, containing each 8 or 10 
seeds. The plants do not seem to grow freely in 
the beginning, but stand well out in the end of 
the season.” 
The Italian ryegrass, Lolium italicum, is re- 
garded by some persons as a wide variety of the 
common ryegrass, and by others as a separate 
species. It is much more nearly allied to Stick- 
ney’s ryegrass than to any other variety of the 
common ryegrass.; but it is not so luxuriant, and 
it has always an awn or beard on its lower palee. 
One kind of it has an upright stem, a pale-col- 
oured young herbage, and a comparatively long 
awn, almost like a tail; and another kind has a. 
more fibrous root, a dark-coloured spreading 
stem, and a comparatively short awn. The 
Italian ryegrass has long been cultivated in Italy 
and in some other parts of Continental Europe ; 
but it did not become known as a field-plant in 
Britain till within the last 15 or 18 years. It 
has a stronger braird than any of the varieties of 
the common ryegrass,—arrives sooner at matu- 
rity,—has taller and more upright culms, broader 
and lighter-green leaves, more abundant foliage, 
longer spikes, more thinly set spikelets, and a 
smaller size and less bulky produce of seeds. It 
is preferred by cattle to any of the common rye- 
grasses ; and is greedily eaten by them, whether 
in its green or in its dry state. Its seeds are 
little more than half the weight, bulk for bulk, 
of those of any of the common ryegrasses raised 
under the same conditions of soil and culture. It 
is better fitted for being grown alone than in 
mixture with clover, lucern, or other herbage 
plants ; for it grows so rapidly as to be lable to 
choke them. It has eminent adaptation to the 
production of only one year of grass; and though 
rushing speedily up to maturity, and though far 
more truly a biennial plant than a perennial one, 
yet when cut down before flowering, it is often 
of several years’ duration. It may be sown in 
either spring or autumn; and if sown by itself 
in the latter, at the rate of from 16 to 18 lb. per 
acre, and properly rolled in, it will render the 
turf of the following autumn like that of an old 
meadow, and will yield more than a double crop 
in the following year. It has, indeed, been de- 
nounced by some farmers as a much less favour- 
able preparation than the other ryegrasses for 
wheat or any other succeeding crop; but, if due 
attention be paid to the selection of its most 
suitable variety, it will be found almost or alto- 
gether as good a preparation as any of them of 
the same duration as itself, and at the same time 
will excel them both in productiveness and in 
intrinsic value. Publie opinion has erroneously 
pronounced the light-coloured and long-awned 
variety to be the only true plant, and the dark- 
coloured and short-awned variety to. be more or 
less spurious ; and when this error comes to be 
generally corrected, Italian ryegrass will probably 
acquire a great increase of reputation. “ Having 
observed,” says Mr. Rodwell of Alderton Hall, 
“in the growth of my crop reported on in the 
Royal Agricultural Society’s Journal in the year 
1841, some plants that were, as I supposed, not 
genuine, that is, not of the pale colour, nor pro- 
109 | 
