and usually the uppermost one, are neutral or rudimentary, and of which one to three of the middle ones bear stamens or pistils.

The lower palea of the fully developed flowers is ovate-lanceolate, obtuse at the scarious point, and envelopes not only the upper palea, but also the base of the upper flowers; it is faintly nine to elevennerved in the upper, and indistinctly three-nerved in the lower half, thus representing, as it would seem, both parts of the leaf, the sheath and the blade; nothing like a ligule however, can be found.

The upper palea is narrower, and a little longer than the lower one, especially in the male flowers, obtuse and scarious at tip, and, in the female, closely envelopes the pistils. In the staminate flower it is bicarinate on the back; in the pistillate flower these keels are developed into wings, which are rolled around the upper flowers as is indicated in the diagrams.

No scales (lodicula) were seen in either flowers. Stamens scarcely longer than the paleæ; anthers linear, deeply bilobed at both ends, longer than the filaments. In the pistillate flower, three minute triangular bodies seem to represent the stamens.

The stipitate ovary is elongated, triangular, with one angle toward the lower, and two toward the keels of the upper palea; it is deeply bifid; the lobes terminating into straight, erect styles. Simple hairs of the feathery stigma scarcely dentate.

I have now given a very full description of all the grasses which the farmers of the northern States will be likely to be much interested in, and have told all that I know about their composition, their properties, their nutritive qualities, and their habits of growth.

It must be confessed, with shame and confusion of face, that all the observation and experience of farmers for so many centuries is very trivial and unimportant. I have shown in the preceding pages the supreme importance of the gramineæ, the high place that they occupy in the vegetable kingdom; whether we consider the relative number of the species, their relations to animal life, to commerce and to the pecuniary success of individuals; and, in view of this, it is indeed strange that so little reliable information should have been collected respecting them. Many reasons might be assigned for this ignorance and indifference; but we are satisfied that the chief cause is the inability of farmers to identify the various species. There is such a general similarity in the appearance of different grasses that they do not take the pains to distinguish them, although they vary so very much in their value and their habits of growth; hence we believe that farmers

must be habituated to a prompt and ready detection of the different species before we can expect any improvement in our practical knowledge of grasses.

It is with the hope of promoting this object that we have prepared the foregoing descriptions of those which, in the present state of our knowledge, are deemed of the most importance. We think that we cannot be mistaken in supposing that any farmer whatever, by the aid of these descriptions and illustrations, will be enabled easily and promptly to identify any grass which may grow upon his farm. Farmers are unfortunately disposed to be frightened at what they call hard words; hence when they meet with a book, or an article in a newspaper, which contains them, they drop it as they would the small-pox or any other plague; but they should remember that it is impossible to speak precisely without the use of technical terms; they use them themselves every day and cannot get along without them. The words snath, neb, clevis, are as unintelligible to a merchant as stamen, distichous and ligule are to them, yet these words are as essential to the proper description of the plants they cultivate as the former class of words is to describe the parts of a scythe and a plough. We have used no technical words, in the descriptions that we have given, without fully defining so that all can understand them. On looking over the words which have been defined, we find that there are just eighty-seven of them. The labor of mastering these words is but a small price to pay for the advantages which will result from a perfect understanding of all the parts of a grass, and the ability to describe those parts without any possibility of ambiguity in the description.

Let the student observe whether the grass that he wishes to identify has one, or two, or three, or more flowers in the spikelet; if he finds that it has two, the range of his examinations will be greatly limited; he will not be obliged to look among the grasses that have a single flower or among those that have more than two flowers. Then let him observe whether the flower in his hand is awned or without awns. If it has an awn, his range of search is still farther reduced; he will not pay any attention to the unawned species, but confine himself wholly to those which have awns. The next point to observe is the insertion of the awn. If he finds that the awn is inserted at the base of the flower, his range of examination is still farther reduced; he will not attend to any species where the awn is inserted on the middle of the flower, or at its apex. The next step is to observe the shape of the awn, whether it is straight or curved or twisted; if he

finds that it is straight, this, of course, excludes all those with curved or twisted awns. This process will bring him down to so narrow a range of search that he will find no difficulty in identifying his grass by the description of the other parts. We think any young energetic farmer who sets himself resolutely to the task, will easily succeed in identifying any grass the first time that he tries to do so, and, of course, every successive trial will be more easy than the preceding, and will be accomplished with greater facility.

The young farmer should keep a blank book in some convenient place in which he will record all the observations on the grasses which he makes during the year. He should observe which is the first grass on the farm to start in the spring; which the cattle seem fondest of at different seasons of the year; which they thrive best on; which gives the most butter; which the most cheese; which exhausts the land most; which grows best on wet land, and which on dry; the different aspects presented by the same grass when growing on sandy or clayey soils; indeed all the modifications produced by different soils on the same species. What kind of manures are best adapted to each soil; which loses most weight in drying; the effect of early and late cutting on the succeeding crop; the insect enemies to which each kind is most liable; which matures its seeds best; the effect of shade and sunshine; which resists drought best; the size of the interspaces between the culms; the disposition to throw out stools from the roots. These, and many other matters which will readily suggest themselves to the observing farmer, if carefully observed and accurately recorded, will soon give us an accumulation of reliable facts in all parts of the country which will enable us to establish a perfect science of the grasses. Guided by the knowledge thus acquired, we shall learn to adapt the different grasses to the soils most favorable to their production, and to increase the crops to an extent that we now little dream of.

TABLE I.-Showing the soils on which the different species are

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

USED IN DESCRIBING GRASSES, THEIR ORGANS AND
ARRANGEMENTS.

Abnormal-Irregular; differing from the usual plan of structure.

Abortion-The non-completion of the plan, or the imperfect formation of a part. Abrupt-Terminating suddenly.

Accessory-Something additional, supernumerary.

Accumbent Lying against another body; generally edgewise.

Acuminate-Prolonged into a tapering point.

Acute-Sharp pointed.

Alternate (Leaves.) Situated one above another; not opposite.

Androgynous-Having pistils and stamens in distinct and separate flowers, but on the same plant; generally on the same spike.

Androus-A suffix in words derived from the Greek, and refers to stamens, thus: di-androus, having two stamens; tri-androus, having three stamens.

Annual-Living through but one season.

Anther The organ of the stamen which incloses the pollen; see Fig. 235w, a.
Apex-The top or outer end, opposite to the base.

Appressed-Lying close against, or pressed together.

Arcuate Curved, like a bow when it is bent.

Articulated-Jointed, united by severable surfaces.

Ascending-Rising obliquely curved from the ground.

Assurgent-Same as ascending.

Awl-shaped-Narrow and growing narrower to a point, like a shoemaker's awl.

Awn-A bristle-like process proceeding from the glumes or pales of many grasses; see Figs. 171c and 177.

Axil-The angle between a leaf and a stem on the upper side; the ligule is in the axil of a grass; see Fig. 235k and Fig. 3.

Bearded-Beset with long, stiff hairs, as the spike of A. furcatus, in Fig. 235u.

Biennial-Living through two seasons.

Bifid-Two-cleft; see paleæ of Avena striata, Fig. 174a.

Bifurcate-Forked; ending in two equal branches.

Bisexual-Having the organs of both sexes, both stamens and pistils.

Boat-shaped-Concave within and convex without, generally keeled.

Bristles Short, stiff hairs, elastic and either straight or curved.

Bud-An undeveloped stem.

Bulb-A permanent bud with fleshy scales, generally subterranean.

Bulbose-Bulb-like in shape.

Calyx-The exterior floral envelope; the glumes of grasses form the calyx.

Caspitose-Growing in bunches or tufts.

Carinate-Keeled, having a longitudinal ridge on the under side.

Capillary-Hair-like.