ALOPECURUS. 
tension of the plant, without producing such en- 
cumbering and exhausting effects as result from 
the roots of Triticum repens, Holcus mollis, Poa 
pratensis, and other powerful creepers. Three 
ounces and four grains of nutritious matter were 
obtained by analyses from sixty-four drachms of 
Alopecurus nigricans ; two ounces and fifteen 
| grains from the same quantity of Alopecurus pra- 
tensis ; three ounces from the same quantity of 
Festuca heterophylla ; and four ounces and four- 
| teen grains from the same quantity of Triticum 
elongatum ; and, what materially adds to the 
comparative effect of these results, the Alopecurus 
| nigricans used in the analysis was in flower, and 
the other three grasses were ripe. 
The meadow foxtail-grass, Alopecurus praten- 
sis, iS a native, not only of Britain, but of most 
parts of Europe, and particularly of Italy, France, 
Germany, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, 
and Russia. It constitutes the principal herbage 
| in many of our rich natural pastures, and may 
easily be distinguished from the other species of 
| Alopecurus by its superior size,—from Phlewm 
pratense, which it somewhat closely resembles, by 
its having only one palea, and from its beard be- 
ing attached to the base of its palea and not to 
| its glumes,—and from all other British grasses, 
by its flowers growing in close cylindrical heads, 
and consisting of two equally sized glumes, and 
a keeled and compressed figure enclosing a single 
palea. It is one of the earliest and most valu- 
| able of our native grasses, vegetates with ex- 
traordinary luxuriance, and yields a large pro- 
_ duce both as a first crop and as aftergrass. Its 
| root-leaves are very broad, long, soft, and slen- 
_ der; and, when eaten down by live stock, they 
grow again with great rapidity. Yet it is better 
adapted for pasture than for hay; for its culms 
are far from being proportionate in number or 
bulk to its root-leaves, and are sparingly furnished 
with side foliage. But whether used as pastur- 
age, as green fodder, or as hay, it is much re- 
lished by sheep and horses, and seems far from 
being unacceptable to cows and oxen. Its seeds 
| are produced in great abundance; and in conse- 
quence of its overtopping most other grasses, 
they may easily be gathered while the crop is 
growing; but they are seldom found in hay, for 
they generally ripen and fall before the other 
grasses are ready to be mown. It is exceedingly 
luxuriant under irrigation, keeps possession of 
the crowns of the ridges, and retains so strong 
possession of the soil as to be eminently peren- 
nial. When grown on a sandy loam, and com- 
bined with nothing but white clover, it: yields 
sufficient pasturage during the second season to 
support per acre five couples of ewes and lambs. 
It does not acquire its full productiveness till 
the fourth year after being sown; and hence is 
inferior to many other grasses for alternate hus- | 
| bandry, or for brief periods of pasture; but it is 
excelled by no grass in aggregate value for 
strictly permanent pasture, and ought never to 
ALPACA. 
bear a smaller proportion than one-eighth in any 
mixture of grass seeds for a sowing intended to 
remain during a considerable number of years. 
It requires, however, to have a loamy or meadowy 
soil,—decidedly good land, of medium character 
for moistness; and loses very much of its value, 
as to both bulk and nutritiousness, when grown 
upon any poor dry soil. Its produce on a clayey 
loam is nearly three-fourths greater than on a 
silicious soil; and the quality of this produce is 
also superior in the proportion of about three to 
two. It flowers in April, May, and June, ac- 
cording to the period up to which it has been 
depastured ; and it ripens its seeds in June and 
July, according to the period at which it has 
flowered. Its produce in lattermath exceeds its 
produce in the flowering crop, in the proportion 
of about four to three. Its produce per acre, 
when grown on silicious sand, and when it is in 
flower, is 8,507 lbs. of grass, 2,552 lbs. of hay, and 
133 Ibs. of nutritious matter; but when grown 
on clayey loam, and when in flower, 20,418 lbs. 
of grass, 6,125 lbs. of hay, and 478 Ibs. of nutri- 
tious matter. 
The author of ‘ British Husbandry,’ after briefly 
noticing the meadow foxtail-grass, Alopecurus 
pratensis, says, “ There are two other species of 
the fox-tail, which all flourish chiefly on strong 
moist soils; but, although each bearing nearly 
the same character, this is the best. Mr. Taun- 
ton says, that on his dry ground he found them 
all considerably weakened, and that one of them, 
a German black-seeded species, had nearly dis- 
appeared ; but where they were mixed in a mea- 
dow on clay, with a dark moory mould on the 
surface, they each maintained their size and bulk 
as well, or better, than any other grass. They 
indeed grow to great perfection on all moist 
loams and clays; and although not cut until late 
in the summer, when the radical leaves of many 
other grasses are decayed or withered, these con- 
tinue green, and present no impediment to the 
scythe. ‘In fine, it possesses all the requisites of 
a good grass—namely, quantity, quality, and ear- 
liness.’ It yields also abundance of seeds; but 
they are subject to be destroyed by an insect.” 
One important recommendation of the new valu- 
able species, Alopecurus nigricans, is that if it 
should prove to be subject to the same disease in 
its seeds as Alopecurus pratensis, it can propagate 
itself independently of them by means of its sto- 
loniferous habit. — Loudon’s Hneyclopedia of 
Plants.—Sinelair’s Hortus Gramineus Woburnen- 
sis.—Sproule’s Treatise on Agriculture.—Treatise | 
on British Husbandry in Library of Useful Know- 
ledge.—Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society 
of England.—Catalogue of the Highland Soctety’s 
Musewm.— Low's Elements of Practical Agricul- 
ture. 
ALPACA, or Paca,—zoologically Auchenta Al- 
paca. A South American quadruped, possessing 
considerable resemblance to the sheep and the 
goat, very often regarded as merely a variety of 
at 
137 
