touch. Notice these two points about it; we
shall see the reason presently. The green leaves have a greyish tint and
are broader than many grass leaves. When cut and made into hay, the
leaves are rather stiff and hard.

Timothy grows in good thick clumps, but does not make a very spreading
sward. Moist weather suits it best, though it can stand a dry summer
fairly well. It is a late grass. Other grasses in the field are in full
flower to-day, but there are only a few ears of Timothy to be seen; its
flowering-time is July. In one way it is a valuable grass for hay; it is
heavy, and hay is always sold by weight. On the other hand Timothy hay
is rather hard.

Now here is a grass something like Timothy, yet different in several
ways. It is Meadow Foxtail. The ear formed by the cluster of spikelets
is of the same shape as an ear of Timothy, like a round tail slightly
pointed. But the ear of Timothy was green, while this is a beautiful
silvery grey. Timothy was rough; the ear of Meadow Foxtail is very soft
and silky to the touch. The silkiness and the silvery grey colour are
given to the ear by a soft hair called the "awn" which grows from each
spikelet. The leaves are broad and juicy, and there are many of them.

Meadow Foxtail, unlike Timothy, is an early grass; you may find it
in flower in April. An early grass is always valuable to the farmer,
who wants herbage for his sheep and cattle after the long winter.
The Foxtail, moreover, is a spreading grass. Some of its stems are
prostrate; they do not stand upright but creep along the ground. From
these prostrate stems fresh roots grow and produce fresh plants. Thus
Meadow Foxtail makes a good sward.

Another useful grass is Cocksfoot. Each culm has four or five thick
clusters of spikelets growing on small stalks of their own. The clusters
grow from the culm in a way which reminds us of the claw of a fowl; that
is the reason of the name. Cocksfoot is a tall and quick growing plant,
and both the stem and flower feel rough and hard. The blue-green leaves
are very juicy. The root goes deep into the soil, so that this grass
resists drought well.

We must notice the Sweet Vernal Grass, though there is not much of it in
the field; for this grass, when it is dry, gives out much of the sweet
scent we smell in or near a hay-field. If we chew a stalk, we notice the
scent ourselves, and animals like the pleasant flavour which it gives to
hay. Though it is an early grass it also las