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PLANTS USEFUL IN AGRICULTURE.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CULTURE OF GRASSES, AND ONSAVING SEEDS, &c.

-It is now fifty years since the celebratedStillingfleetobserved, "thatit was surprising to ^ee bow long mankind had neglected to make aproper advantage of plants, of so much importance to agriculture as theGrasses, which are in all countries the principal food of cattle." Thefanner, for want of distinguishing and selecting the best kinds, fills hispastures either with weeds or improper plants, when by making aright choice he would not only procure a more abundant crop from hisland, but have a produce more nourishing to his flock. One would there-fore naturally wonder, after this truth has been so long published, andthat in an age when agriculture and the arts have so much improved,that Select Seeds of this tribe of plants are scarcely to be procured.

Fiom the experience I have had on this subject, I find their cultureis attended with certain difficulties, which arise not so much from thenature of the plants, as from the labour requisite to this purpose, greatattention being necessary for saving Grass-seeds at the seasons when thefarmer must exert all the strength of his husbandmen to get his otherbusiness accomplished.

The only mode by which this can be effected is by selecting a propersoil for the kinds intended to be saved. The seeds should be drilled intothe ground at about one foot distance; and care taken that the plantsare duly weeded of all other kinds that may intrude themselves, beforethey get too firm possession of the soil. The hoe should be frequentlypassed between the drills, in order both to keep the land clean and togive vigour to the young plants. The sowing may be done either in thespring or in the month of September, which will enable the crop to goto seed the following spring. In order to preserve a succession of crops,■t is necessary every season to keep the ground clean all the summermonths, to dig or otherwise turn up the land between the drills early in

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