Manure. 
Growth. 
Development. 
Yield. 
Nutritive 
value. 
Harvesting 
the seed, 
Impurities, 
46 
Irrigation is advantageous, provided that the water does not stagnate. Fresh manure 
does not give such good results as that which is old and well-rotted. It would seem, that 
top-dressing with liquid manure is less suitable for this than for most other grasses ; 
however on this point, the experimental evidence is not quite complete. Manuring in au- 
tumn, with farm-yard manure, is very beneficial. 
Growth, Yield, Nutritive value. Yellow oat-grass vegetates Inxuriantly. and forms loose 
tufts with numerous leafy culms. 
It is a moderately early grass, flowering about the middle of June. In the second 
cutting numerous culms are produced; some agriculturists even assert that the second 
yields more than the first cutting; this is not usually the case among grasses. However 
that may be, the second cutting is very productive — a very valuable property. ‘This re- 
sults from the late and slow development of the first cutting in comparison with other 
OTASSES. | 
From a clay loam, Sinclair obtained the following yield per acre: — 
Green. Dry. 
Qn flowering . . . . . 98,4167 Ibs. 2,859 Ibs. 
At the time the seed is ripe 412,251. ,, 4,900 ,, 
Alléraiallte. .. . . ae te os MSS? .. — 
Vianne obtained, on a moist, fertile, medium soil, 5,020 Ibs. of hay per acre. 400 Ibs. of grass 
give 32.5 to 34,7 lbs, of hay. Compared with some other grasses, the yield is thus somewhat small, 
100 Ibs, of hay contain 80.6 Ibs. of organic matter, composed of; — 
Albumin (N >< 6.25) . . . 6.8 %/o 
bre oo eh ES RG 
Non-nitrogenous extractives . 38.8 °%o 
Fay SE ee hes a SARs 
_ 
~~ 
The proportion of albumin is low; further analysis is however necessary. 
Harvesting, Impurities and Adulteration of seed. The harvesting of this seed is very 
difficult, and the yield small, Hence Yellow oat-grass is not grown by itself as a seed 
crop. Itis more profitable to separate the seed from that of Cocksfoot, by sieves of appro- 
priate size. In Dauphiny, it is usually grown along with Cocksfoot. Both grasses are cut 
and threshed together and the seeds separated by sieves, Formerly, when Yellow oat-grass 
was not in demand, its seeds were not separated at all. 
Procured in this way it is necessarily very impure, as various constituents are sifted 
from the Cocksfoot seed along with yellow oat-grass seed. The proportion of impurities is, 
on an average, 65 °/o, and at times even 90 °/o. These consist mainly of empty pales of Cocks- 
foot,*) debris of awns and pales, and 5 to 10 °/o of small seeds of different weeds, such as 
the Ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, L.) and other Composite, species of 
Galium, etc, A trial of seed containing weeds was made at the Zurich experimental station. 
The Yellow oat-grass came up well, while the weeds remained in abeyance and were scar- 
cely noticeable. This trial shewed, that the produce is not essentially injured by the pre- 
sence of certain weeds. 
*) These constitute an impurity, not an adulteration, as they haye not been intentionally added to the seed of 
Avena flavescens. 
