There is a great number of varieties, adapted to cultivation in some
countries and climates, but not suitable for American culture. On the
comparative value of different grasses there is a diversity of opinions.
The best course for the practical farmer is, having the best and surest,
therewith to be content. Sir John Sinclair says there are two hundred
and fifteen grasses cultivated in Great Britain. We shall notice a very
few of them, with a view to their comparative value:--
1. _Sweet-scented Vernal Grass._--Small growth; yield of hay light. For
pastures it is very early, and grows quickly after being cropped, and is
excellent for milch-cows; grows well on almost any soil, but most
naturally on high, well-drained meadows. It grows in great abundance in
Massachusetts.
2. _Meadow Foxtail._--Early like the preceding, but more productive and
more nutritious. It is one of the five or six kinds usually sown
together in English pastures; best for sheep and horses.
3. _Rough Cocksfoot._--_Orchard-grass_ of the United States; cows are
fond of it. In England it is taking the place of clovers and rye-grass.
About Philadelphia it is supplanting timothy. It is earlier, and
therefore better to mix with clover for hay, as they mature at the same
time; grows well in the shade, and on both loams and sands; springs
rapidly after being cropped. Colonel Powell, one of the best American
farmers, says it produces more pasture than any other grass he has seen
in this country. Two bushels of seed are sown on an acre.
4. _Tall Oat-Grass._--A valuable grass, deserving increased attention.
It will produce three crops in a season; grows four or five feet high,
and should be cut for hay when in blossom. Of all grasses, it is the
earliest and best for green fodder.
5. _Tall Fescue._--Cut in blossom, it contains more nutriment than any
other known grass. Grows well by the sides of ditches, and is well
adapted to wet bogs, as, by its rapid growth, it keeps down coarse,
noxious grass and weeds.
6. _Rye Grass._--This is extensively cultivated in Scotland and in the
north of England. It is mixed with clover. Respecting its comparative
value there is a diversity of opinion. Some do not speak well of it.