424 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Gramineae. 
annua, P. angustifolia, and P. pratensis ; Cat’s-tail or Timothy-grass, Phleum pratense ; 
Purple Fescue-grass, (Festuca rubra), which from its greater produce is considered 
preferable to the F. ovina, specially called Sheep’s Fescue-grass. Besides these, there 
are, as has been already shewn, a number of species, belonging to the same genera, 
and analogous in nature, some of which may even be superior, to the best grasses of 
England, where they might be worthy of introduction ; shewing, at all events, how 
easily any other grasses, as biennial rye-grass, might be successfully introduced, though 
this may not appear to be at all necessary where the natural pasture is already so good. 
But it would be of considerable importance to find some pasture-grasses suited to the 
plains of India, or the table-land of the Peninsula, and the Dukhun, and such a series 
as would afford pasture, in the different seasons of the year, as the cold, the hot, 
and the rainy; the first might be furnished, perhaps, from the north, and the second, 
probably from the south of Europe, while tropical countries are alone likely to furnish 
those fitted for the last. The creeping-rooted, and stoloniferous kinds, grow readily 
in almost any soil. In Europe attention is paid to hay-grasses, both of temporary, and 
of permanent duration; also to those adapted for pasturage, and to these, as yielding 
early or late pasturage, as well as those suited to different kinds of soil. The subject has 
in England obtained great and deserved attention, but no where so conspicuously as in 
the experiments instituted on this subject by John, Duke of Bedford, at Woburn, and 
Carried into execution there by Mr. Sinclair, and detailed in the work, entitled 
‘* Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis ;” for a copy of which I was indebted, when in India, 
to the late venerable Dr. Carey: a very useful abstract of this work is given in Mr. 
Loudon’s excellent Encyclopedia of Agriculture. 
In addition to the foregoing very obvious uses of grasses, a few are remarkable for 
their aromatic properties, as Anthoranthum odoratum, and Holcus odoratus, which, in 
these plants, according to Vogel, is due to the presence of benzoic acid. The roots 
also of the bena or punnee, Andropogon (Rhaphis. Anatherum) muricatum, which are in 
Hindee called khus-khus, and Tamool, vitivayr, are delightfully fragrant, ‘especially 
when moist, and therefore much employed for making the thatched screens or tatties, 
which are placed in the hot weather before the doors and windows of houses in India. 
Water being thrown upon these, while the dry and heated wind blows through, which 
causing rapid evaporation, enters the rooms, both cooled and fragrant; the difference of 
temperature between the outer and the inner air amounts often to between 20° and 30° 
Fahrenheit. According to Dr. Roxburgh, Chetaria (Aristida) setacea, is employed for 
this purpose in the Madras Presidency, where the contrivance was introduced from 
Bengal. In the vitivayr, or khus-khus, the aroma is dependent, according to Vanquelin 
and Henry, who both examined the roots of the same plant, though under different 
names, to the presence of a principle resembling myrrh. Some other species secrete 
volatile odorous oils, so abundantly, as to be profitably distilled; of these the best 
known is Andropogon Schenanthus, or Lemon-grass, its infusion being often employed 
in India as a pleasant stomachic : the Lemon- -grass oil is probably distilled from it. 
Another 
