There is a peculiar form of this which occasionally occurs in sandy districts, called _A. avenaceum_, variety _bulbosum_ (Onion Couch), the trivial name of which has been given from the fact that its nodes thicken below the soil, and present the appearance of small races of onions. This pest is got out of the land by harrowing and hand-picking; but as every bulb grows like joints of real couch, it is very difficult to entirely eradicate it. [Illustration: _Fig. 25._ The Soft Brome, or Lop Grasses.] The Soft Brome, or Lop Grasses (_Bromus mollis_, fig. 25), and its congeners, is an annual grass, and therefore very objectionable, whether in the meadow or in “seeds,” to both of which, when poor and neglected, it becomes attached. In both positions it is sometimes mixed with a kind that droops pretty considerably to one side; from which it has got the name of “lop.” From the meadow it is soon got rid of by manuring and depasturing; haymaking, though it cuts off the main stem, only encourages smaller ones to spring up late, and so the seed is sown. In “seeds” it is frequently mixed with rye-grass seed, as it too often occurs that a patch of rye-grass with much lop is seeded, as the most profitable way to deal with it, as its seeds are heavy and large, and therefore tell well, either by weight or measure. Our enlarged drawing of a seed with its envelopes is given to contrast with rye-grass seed, which is narrower and more pointed. Within the last few years a species of brome grass, which was formerly very rare, has become a common weed: we mean the _B. arvensis_, Corn Brome-grass,—a species with smaller and more numerous heads of flowers than the one just described. This has spread with the growth of foreign seeds, and so suddenly has it appeared in some places as to cause farmers to come to the conclusion that poor cultivation has made the land spontaneously bring forth “a nasty sort of wild oat,” while others have even concluded that a cereal crop had been transformed into this grass. The _Bromus erectus_ (Upright Brome Grass) is very constant to poor calcareous soils. This is a perennial species, but very poor indeed in feeding qualities; however, it looks green in park-glades, and if kept down by rough stock, it may then be made useful. [Illustration: _Fig. 26._ The Bent Grass.] The Bent Grass (_Agrostis stolonifera_, fig. 26) is probably only a variety of the common marsh species, _A. alba_. Under the name of Fiorin Grass, this plant has been much extolled for the meadow; but our experience shows it to vary in value according to the nature of the position in which it is placed: as thus, in an irrigated meadow it sends up a large quantity of quite rich pasturage, whilst in poor or dry districts its herbage is hard and harsh, and not at all relished by cattle or sheep.