Arthur Young more than 100 years ago made out one to suit chalky hillsides; Mr Faunce de Laune (Sussex) in our days was the first to study grasses and advocated leaving out ryegrass of all kinds; Lord Leicester adopted a cheap mixture suitable for poor land with success; Mr Elliot (Kelso) has introduced many deep-rooted “herbs” in his mixture with good results. Typical examples of such mixtures are given on preceding page.
Temporary pastures are commonly resorted to for rotation purposes, and in these the bulky fast-growing and short-lived grasses and clovers are given the preference. Three examples of temporary mixtures are given below.
| One year. |
Two years. |
Three or four years. | |
| Italian ryegrass | 14 | 10 | 6 |
| Cocksfoot | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Timothy | . . | 2 | 3 |
| Broad red clover | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| Alsike | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Trefoil | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Perennial ryegrass | . . | 5 | 10 |
| Meadow fescue | . . | 2 | 2 |
| Perennial red clover | . . | 2 | 2 |
| White clover | . . | 1 | 2 |
| Meadow foxtail | . . | 1 | 2 |
| Total ℔ per acre | 30 | 36 | 40 |
Where only a one-year hay is required, broad red clover is often grown, either alone or mixed with a little Italian ryegrass, while other forage crops, like trefoil and trifolium, are often grown alone.
In Great Britain a heavy clay soil is usually preferred for pasture, both because it takes most kindly to grass and because the expense of cultivating it makes it unprofitable as arable land when the price of corn is low. On light soil the plant frequently suffers from drought in summer, the want of moisture preventing it from obtaining proper root-hold. On such soil the use of a heavy roller is advantageous, and indeed on any soil excepting heavy clay frequent rolling is beneficial to the grass, as it promotes the capillary action of the soil-particles and the consequent ascension of ground-water.
In addition, the grass on the surface helps to keep the moisture from being wasted by the sun’s heat.
The graminaceous crops of western Europe generally are similar to those enumerated. Elsewhere in Europe are found certain grasses, such as Hungarian brome, which are suitable for introduction into the British Isles. The grasses of the American prairies also include many plants not met with in Great Britain. Some half-dozen species are common to both countries: Kentucky “blue-grass” is the British Poa pratensis; couch grass (Triticum repens) grows plentifully without its underground runners; bent (Agrostis vulgaris) forms the famous “red-top,” and so on. But the American buffalo-grass, the Canadian buffalo-grass, the “bunch” grasses, “squirrel-tail” and many others which have no equivalents in the British Islands, form a large part of the prairie pasturage. There is not a single species of true clover found on the prairies, though cultivated varieties can be introduced. (P. McC.)
GRASSE, FRANÇOIS JOSEPH PAUL, Marquis de Grasse-tilly,
Comte de (1722–1788), French sailor, was born at Bar,
in the present department of the Alpes Maritimes. In 1734 he
took service on the galleys of the order of Malta, and in 1740
entered the service of France, being promoted to chief of squadron
in 1779. He took part in the naval operations of the American
War of Independence, and distinguished himself in the battles of
Dominica and Saint Lucia (1780), and of Tobago (1781). He
was less fortunate at St Kitts, where he was defeated by Admiral
Hood. Shortly afterwards, in April 1782, he was defeated and
taken prisoner by Admiral Rodney. Some months later he returned
to France, published a Mémoire justificatif, and was
acquitted by a court-martial (1784). He died at Paris in January
1788.
His son Alexandre de Grasse, published a Notice bibliographique sur l’amiral comte de Grasse d’après les documents inédits in 1840. See G. Lacour-Gayet, La Marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XV (Paris, 1902).
GRASSE, a town in the French department of the Alpes
Maritimes (till 1860 in that of the Var), 1212 m. by rail N. of Cannes.
Pop. (1906) town, 13,958; commune, 20,305. It is built in a
picturesque situation, in the form of an amphitheatre and at a
height of 1066 ft. above the sea, on the southern slope of a hill,
facing the Mediterranean. In the older (eastern) part of the town
the streets are narrow, steep and winding, but the new portion
(western) is laid out in accordance with modern French ideas.
It possesses a remarkably mild and salubrious climate, and is
well supplied with water. That used for the purpose of the
factories comes from the fine spring of Foux. But the drinking
water used in the higher portions of the town flows, by means of
a conduit, from the Foulon stream, one of the sources of the
Loup. Grasse was from 1244 (when the see was transferred
hither from Antibes) to 1790 an episcopal see, but was then
included in the diocese of Fréjus till 1860, when politically as
well as ecclesiastically, the region was annexed to the newly-formed
department of the Alpes Maritimes. It still possesses a
12th-century cathedral, now a simple parish church; while an
ancient tower, of uncertain date, rises close by near the town
hall, which was formerly the bishop’s palace (13th century).
There is a good town library, containing the muniments of the
abbey of Lérins, on the island of St Honorat opposite Cannes.
In the chapel of the old hospital are three pictures by Rubens.
The painter J. H. Fragonard (1732–1806) was a native of Grasse,
and some of his best works were formerly to be seen here (now
in America). Grasse is particularly celebrated for its perfumery.
Oranges and roses are cultivated abundantly in the neighbourhood.
It is stated that the preparation of attar of roses (which
costs nearly £100 per 2 ℔) requires alone nearly 7,000,000 roses
a year. The finest quality of olive oil is also manufactured at
Grasse. (W. A. B. C.)
GRASSES,[1] a group of plants possessing certain characters in common and constituting a family (Gramineae) of the class Monocotyledons. It is one of the largest and most widespread and, from an economic point of view, the most important family of flowering plants. No plant is correctly termed a grass which is not a member of this family, but the word is in common language also used, generally in combination, for many plants of widely different affinities which possess some resemblance (often slight) in foliage to true grasses; e.g. knot-grass (Polygonum aviculare), cotton-grass (Eriophorum), rib-grass (Plantago), scorpion-grass (Myosotis), blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium), sea-grass (Zostera). The grass-tree of Australia (Xanthorrhoea) is a remarkable plant, allied to the rushes in the form of its flower, but with a tall, unbranched, soft-woody, palm-like trunk bearing a crown of long, narrow, grass-like leaves and stalked heads of small, densely-crowded flowers. In agriculture the word has an extended signification to include the various fodder-plants, chiefly leguminous, often called “artificial grasses.” Indeed, formerly grass (also spelt gwrs, gres, gyrs in the old herbals) meant any green herbaceous plant of small size.
Yet the first attempts at a classification of plants recognized and separated a group of Gramina, and this, though bounded by nothing more definite than habit and general appearance, contained the Gramineae of modern botanists. The older group, however, even with such systematists as Ray (1703), Scheuchzer (1719), and Micheli (1729), embraced in addition the Cyperaceae
- ↑ The word “grass” (O. Eng. gærs, græs) is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch Ger. Goth, gras, Dan. græs; the root is the O. Teut. gra-, gro-, to increase, whence “grow,” and “green,” the typical colour of growing vegetation. The Indo-European root is seen in Lat. gramen. The O. Eng. grasian, formed from græs, gives “to graze,” of cattle feeding on growing herbage, also “grazier,” one who grazes or feeds cattle for the market; “to graze,” to abrade, to touch lightly in passing, may be a development of this from the idea of close cropping; if it is to be distinguished a possible connexion may be found with “glace” (Fr. glacer, glide, slip, Lat. glacies, ice), to glance off, the change in form being influenced by “grate,” to scrape, scratch (Fr. gratter, Ger. kratzen).
