54 AFTERBIRTH. 
and generally diffused in the gardens of Great 
Britain. Its popular epithet ‘ African’ is an ab- 
surd misnomer. Five varieties of the plant were 
cultivated in the days of Miller,—the pale yel- 
low, the deep yellow, the orange-coloured, the 
middling, and the sweet-scented. Unless the 
seeds are carefully gathered from the finest 
flowers, all the varieties are very apt to degen- 
erate. The plant flowers from July till the sea- 
son of frost. 
AFTERBIRTH. The membranaceous or solid 
discharge which follows the expulsion of a foetus. 
It is technically called placenta, from its simi- 
larity of form to a cake. See articles ABorTion 
and PARTURITION. 
AFTERGRASS. The second crop of grass in 
a season, or that which grows after mowing. 
The word is often applied to the second crop of 
| grass under any conditions, and sometimes even 
to the grass which is cut after some kinds of corn 
crops; but it is better understood when restricted 
to the second crop of meadow lands, or to that 
_ which follows a first and mown grass crop. The 
‘late Mr. G. Sinclair, who conducted a course of 
elaborate experiments to ascertain the compara- 
_ tive nutritiousness of the various grasses to one 
another, and of the same grasses under different 
conditions, found that a certain quantity of per- 
ennial ryegrass, when taken in flower from a 
water meadow which had been fed off with sheep 
till the end of April, contained 72 grains of nu- 
tritious matter,—that the same quantity taken 
from a portion of the same meadow which had 
not been fed off, contained 100 grains,—that the 
_ same quantity taken from a rich old depastured 
—$<—<$<<—<$<— 
field which had been shut up from stock at the 
end of April, in order to its yielding a crop of 
hay, contained 95 grains,—and that the same 
| quantity taken from a portion of the same field 
_ which had not been recently depastured, con- 
tained 120 grains. 
This analysis not only is of 
great general interest, for evincing how very 
widely the intrinsic value of a grass varies under 
different conditions of growth; but also possesses 
special interest on the subject of aftergrass, as 
showing that the plants of which it consists are 
likely to be much affected in their worth by the 
treatment which the field receives both before 
the growth of the spring crop and after it is cut 
down. Mr. Sinclair analyzed 64 drachms weight 
of each of. several kinds of grasses in the spring 
crop, and in the aftergrass of meadows, and found 
the following results :—Sweet-scented vernal grass 
contained 1 drachm 3 grains of nutritious matter 
in the spring crop, and 2 drachms 1 grain in the 
aftergrass ; sweet-scented soft grass contained 
4 drachms 1 grain in each of the crops ; smooth- 
stalked meadow-grass contained 1 drachm 3 grains 
in each of the crops; short blue meadow-grass con- 
tained 2 drachms in each of the crops; cow grass 
contained 2 drachms 1 grain in each of the crops; 
_ creeping fescue-grass contained 1 drachm 2 grains 
in each of the crops ; round panicled cock’s-foot 
AFTERGRASS. 
grass contained 2 drachms 1 grain in the spring 
crop, and 1 drachm 2 grains in the aftergrass ; 
meadow fox-tail grass contained 3 drachwms | grain 
in the spring crop, and 2 drachms in the after- 
grass ; larger-leaved creeping bent-crested dog’s- 
tail grass contained 4 drachms 1 grain in the 
spring crop, and 2 drachms 2 grains in the after- 
grass ; hard fescue-grass contained 3 drachms 2 
grains in the spring crop, and 1 drachm 1 grain 
in the aftergrass ; Welsh fescue-grass contained 
2 drachms 1 grain in the spring crop,and 1 drachm 
1 grain in the aftergrass; and yellow oat grass 
contained 3 drachms 3 grains in the spring crop, 
and 1 drachm 1 grain in the aftergrass. Thus 
only one of the grasses, and that a mere condi- 
ment, was found of greater value in the after- 
grass than in the spring crop; five, and these of 
only second or third rate importance, were found 
of equal value in the two crops; and six, of aggre- 
gately more important character than the others, | 
were found to be of very much greater value in 
the spring crop than in the aftergrass. Yet the 
case of perennial ryegrass already stated,—on 
account of its being the case of by far the bulkiest 
of the artificial grasses usually grown, and on 
account also of the very marked variations which 
it exhibits in the value of the plant under differ- 
ent conditions of growth,—is much the most im- | 
portant of them all, and strongly proves the ne- 
cessity of making the principles and calculations | 
of an enlightened economy to bear upon the gen- | 
eral treatment of grass lands. 
The aftergrass of meadows of all kinds, when 
not designed to be cut down for hay or rowen, 
ought, in every well-regulated system of hus- 
bandry, except in extraordinary circumstances, 
to be fed off during autumn and the earlier parts 
of winter. 
- 
If the lands be firm, and the season | 
dry, the grass may be consumed by any class | 
of stock ; but some meadows cannot without | 
damage be depastured at any time by horse or 
black cattle, and most meadow lands are un- 
suited for them, or for any stock but sheep dur- 
ing winter. The bite of horses is so close as 
often, in soft ground, to tear up the herbage, to 
the damage or destruction of its roots; and the 
tread of black cattle, on clayey or moist grounds, 
makes holes which destroy the herbage for years, | 
and which hold stagnant water to the utter 
damage of the surrounding plants. An excellent 
practice, in most circumstances, is to depasture 
aftergrass with heavy stock during the dry part 
of the year, and to restrict it to sheep during 
winter. 
removed from meadow lands in November ; horses, 
in December; and sheep, not till February. But 
in Leicestershire, in Lincolnshire, and in many — 
other districts, stock of all kinds are allowed to 
remain on meadow lands, not only during winter, 
but till May, and sheep even till April. Much, it 
is obvious, must depend on the special character 
of the lands for firmness and fertility ; something 
also on the particular character of the season, 
In Middlesex, black cattle are usually — 
