p.16

410

certain that we have the best kinds, nor that those we have brought to
the greatest degree of perfection. Doubtless grasses might be improved
by a proper course of culture, as well as fruits and blooded stock. New and
peculiar varieties might be produced, suited to different purposes, combining
the excellences of two or more species, and thus adding largely
to the value of our pastures and meadows. This improvement would
also extend to the stock fed upon the improved grasses, yielding us a
better article of beef, butter, &c.

Louden relates* that the introduction, into the island of Jamaica, of a
grass from Guinea (Panicum polygonatum), as food for birds, has been
the cause of the increase of horned cattle in that island, until it has a
better supply, both for the butcher and planter, than almost any other
country. Few markets in Europe furnish beef of better quality, and
at a cheaper rate than is now done by the people of Jamaica.

The following table, showing the weight of a bushel, and the number
of grains in an ounce, of different kinds of grass seed, is interesting and
useful. It is taken from a small Treatise on Grasses, by P. Lawson & Sons,
seedsmen, Edinburgh:

Names. Weight per Bushel in lbs. No. of Seeds in one ounce.

Agrostis alba ... 13 500,000
Agrostis vulgaris ... 12 425,000
Aira caespitosa ... 14 132,000
Alopecurus pratensis ... 5 1/2 76,000
Anthoxanthum odoratum ... 6 71,000
Avena elatior ... 7 21,000
Calamagrostis arenaria ... 15 10,000
Dactylis glomerata ... 11 1/2 40,000
Festuca elatior ... 14 20,500
Festuca ovina ... 13 1/4 64,000
Festuca pratensis ... 13 26,000
Glyceria aquatica ... 13 1/4 58,000
Glyceria fluitans ... 14 1/2 33,000
Holcus lanatus ... 7 95,000
Lolium perenne ... 18 16,000
Milium effusum ... 25 95,000
Phalaris arundinacea ... 48 42,000
Phleum pratense ... 46 74,000
Poa nemoralis ... 15 173,000
Poa pratensis ... 13 1/4 243,000
Poa trivialis ... 15 1/4 217,000

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* Encyclopedia of Agriculture, p. 195.