Excerpt from Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis; Or an Account of the Results of Experiments on the Produce and Nutritive Qualities of Different Grasses: Used as the Food of the More Valuable Domestic Animals; Instituted by John, Duke of Bedford, Illustrated With Forty-Five Plate, Fifth Edition, to Which Is Added, the Weeds of Agriculture The above-named plants are a few of the tropical grasses; and however well adapted to the climate, and variously useful to the natives, and even to far distant lands, they are not to be compared with the hardier species of grasses which adorn and enrich the temperate latitudes, whether considered as pasturable or cereal. The food of man, as well as that of the more useful animals, entirely depends on the produce of our corn fields and our pastures. The improve ment of both has always been an especial object in the business and proceedings of rural husbandry, and particularly in the apportionment of meadow to pas ture land. The time has been in this country, when providing sufficient forage for live stock in winter was a matter of the greatest difficulty, and great losses were sustained, and many advantages given up, on account of the absolute want of winter fodder. Old turf, suitable either for grazing or for the scythe, was supposed to be a creation of centuries; and that a farmer who wished to lay down a meadow in his youth, must see the end of his threescore years and ten before he could possibly possess a piece of pas ture capable of keeping a score of sheep, or a couple of cows. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.