Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis: Or, an Account of the Results of Experiments on the Produce and Nutritive Qualities of Different Grasses and Other Plants Used as the Food of the More Valuable Domestic Animals: Instituted by John, Duke of Bedford. Illustrated With Numerous Figures of the Plants and Seeds Upon Which These Experiments Have Been Made, and Practical Observations on Their Natural Habits and the Soils Best Adapted to Their Growth; Pointing Out the Kind Most Profitable for Permanent Pasture, Irrigated Meadows, Dry or Upland Pasture, and Alternate Husbandry; Accompanied With the Discriminating Characters of the Species and Varieties

London: Printed by B. M'Millan, 1816. Folio. (18 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches). vi, lxvi, 316, iv. First edition. 123 leaves of mounted dried grass specimens, each with captioned overslips, 35 leaves in introduction with mounted seed samples, errata slip pasted to contents leaf verso, some offsetting from samples to opposite letterpress, small ink stamp to front pastedown, all edges gilt. Contemporary brown straight-grained and blind stamped morocco.

George Sinclair became gardener to 6th Duke of Bedford, a great agrarian reformer, in 1803 and was keen to improve knowledge of varieties of grasses and their cultivation so as to benefit practical agriculture. "On instructions from the Duke, and under the direction of Sir Humphry Davy, Sinclair [gardener to the Duke of Bedford] conducted an extensive series of experiments on the nutritive qualities of various types of animal fodder. The results were published in 1816 in Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, an expensive folio volume containing dried specimens of the grasses. These were replaced by plates in [subsequent editions] ... The nutritional value of the grasses described in Hortus was assessed through comparison of their water-soluble constituents, the theory being that these formed the bulk of the feeding material." Copies vary in their make-up depending on what specimens were available. Interestingly, Sinclair's work would have a profound influence on Charles Darwin, who refers to Sinclair's experiments with soil and various grasses in On the Origin of Species in his explanation of the principle of divergence, i.e. how natural selection favors diverging ecological requirements of cohabitating species within the same area. See Andy Hector and Rowan Hooper, "Darwin and the first ecological experiment," Science Magazine 295, no. 5555 [25 Jan. 2002]: 639-40.

Nissen BBI 1850; Stafleu TL2 12.022; Lownes 2404.