Fig. 14. The Catstail Grass.
The Catstail Grass (Phleum pratense, [fig. 14]) in general form is not unlike the preceding, but it is much rougher in all its parts, and is one of the latest instead of one of our earliest species. Its name of catstail is due to its rough flowers, an enlarged drawing of one of which is given at a. It has also got the name of Timothy Grass, from one Mr. Timothy Hanson, an American, to whom, probably, is owing its first introduction as a “self-crop,” large fields of this useful species, mostly by itself, being grown in Canada and the States as a fodder plant. It is very useful in the meadow, as supplying a late crop of stems and leaves; greatly augmenting the amount of herbage in some of the colder though not poor districts.
We have never seen this grass used as a self-crop in England, but we are convinced that on some of the rich alluvial flats, as in the lands reclaimed from the Severn, and warp soils in general, it would yield a large bulk of good feeding matter, which, though somewhat rough, would yet mix well with clovers, &c., in chaff-cutting.
Fig. 15. The Sweet Vernal Grass.
The Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum, [fig. 15]) is a very early species, with a somewhat lax spike of flowers, which usually become of a bright straw-colour by the time the hayfield is ripe for the scythe. It does not yield much bulk, but its grateful bitter when fresh, and the peculiarly sweet hayfield odour which it yields on drying, would seem to make this grass of importance, from the flavour which it imparts to the produce of the field; indeed so much so, that much of the value of natural meadow hay over that of artificial pasture may be traced to the presence of this grass.