The Botanists Companion, Vol. II | Page 6

light a nature, the
panicle is found to become viviparous, i.e. producing perfect plants,
which being beaten down with heavy rains in the autumn, readily strike
root in the ground.
This plant was introduced into our garden many years ago, and still
preserves this difference; otherwise it is in all respects the same as the
Festuca ovina.

23. FESTUCA pinnata. SPIKED FESCUE-GRASS.--I have observed
this near the Thames side to be the principal grass in some of the most
abundant meadows; and as the seeds are very plentiful, I am of opinion
it might be very easily propagated: it is, however, not in cultivation at
present.

24. FESTUCA loliacea. DARNEL FESCUE-GRASS.--This in
appearance is very like the Lolium perenne, but is a more lasting plant
in the ground. Where I have seen it wild, it is certainly very good; but it
is liable to the objection of Festuca elatior, the seeds grow but
sparingly.

25. HOLCUS lanatus. YORKSHIRE GRASS, or MEADOW

SOFT-GRASS.--This has been much recommended as fit for
meadow-land. I am not an advocate for it. It is late in blooming, and
consequently not fit for the scythe at the time other grasses are; and I
find the lower foliage where it occurs in meadows to be generally
yellow and in a state of decay, from its tendency to mat and lie
prostrate. I hear it has been cultivated in Yorkshire; hence probably its
name. Two bushels of the seed would sow an acre; and it is sometimes
met with in our seed-shops. It will grow in any soil, but thrives best in a
moist loam.

26. HOLCUS mollis. CREEPING SOFT-GRASS.--Mr. Curtis in the
third edition of his Treatise on Grasses says, he is induced to have a
better opinion than formerly of this grass, and that Mr. Dorset also
thinks it may be cultivated to advantage in dry sandy soils. I have never
seen it exhibit any appearance that has indicated any such thing, and do
not recommend it.

27. HORDEUM pratense. MEADOW BARLEY-GRASS.--This is
productive, and forms a good bottom in Battersea meadows: but
although I have heard it highly recommended, I should fear it was
much inferior to many others. One species of Barley-grass, which
grows very commonly in our sea-marshes, the Hordeum maritimum, is
apt to render cattle diseased in the mouth, from chewing the seeds,
which are armed with a strong bristly awn not dissimilar to the spike of
this grass.

28. LOLIUM perenne. RAY- or RYE-GRASS.--This has been long in
cultivation, and is usually sown with clover under a crop of spring corn.
It forms in the succeeding autumn a good stock of herbage, and the
summer following it is commonly mown for hay, or the seed saved for
market, after which the land is usually ploughed and fallowed, to clear
it of weeds, or as a preparation for Wheat, by sowing a crop of Winter
Tares or Turnips. The seed is about six or eight pecks per acre, and ten

pounds of Clover mixt as the land best suits. Although this is a very
advantageous culture for such purposes, and when the land is not to
remain in constant pasture; yet it is by no means a fit grass for
permanent meadow, as it exhausts the soil, and presently goes into a
state of decay for want of nourishment, when other plants natural to the
soil are apt to overpower it. There are several varieties of this grass.
Some I have seen with the flowers double, others with branched
panicles; some that grow very luxuriantly, and others that are little
better than annuals; and there is also a variety in cultivation called
PACEY's Rye-grass, much sought for. But I am of opinion that nothing
but a fine rich soil will produce a very good crop, and that the principal
difference, after all, is owing more to cultivation or change of soil, than
to any real difference in the plant itself.

29. MELICA coerulea. BLUE MELIC-GRASS.--This is common on
all our heaths; it appears coarse, and not a grass likely to be useful. Yet
this kind is spoken of by Dr. Walker under the name of Fly-bent, who
says it is one of the most productive and best grasses for sheep-feed in
the Highlands of Scotland, where it grows to the height of three feet, a
size to which it never attains in this part of the country. It is found in all
soils, both in dry and boggy places.

30. PANICUM germanicum. GERMAN PANIC, or MOHAR.--I notice
this plant here, although it is not a native of this country; neither is it in
cultivation. It was introduced some years since by Sir Thomas Tyrrwhit
from Hungary. It is said there to be the best food of