GRASSES OF MAINE. 



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the Pyrus, of which the apple {Pyrus malus) is a species, 

 and Baldwin, Greening, Russet, &c., are varieties. 



The grass family is subdivided into 65 groups, or genera. 

 These Qb genera are subdivided into several thousand species, 

 and many of the species are subdivided into varieties. The 

 genus bent-grass, to which red-top belongs, has nine species, 

 the so-called brown-top being one of the number. 



I have a grass of which cattle are fond. I wish to know 

 what it is ; I wish to know certainly. I take it into a farmer's 

 club, where the language of botany is not understood ; nine- 

 teen members kindly volunteer to tell me, each guessing a 

 diflerent name, viz : bent-grass, taller thin grass, hair grass, 

 fly-away grass, thin grass, tickle grass, brown bent, dog's 

 bent, Alpine bent, red-top, upright flowering bent, fine top. 

 Burden's grass, herds-grass, dew grass, white-top, English 

 bent, bonnet grass ; yet, with such an array of names, backed 

 up by such a "cloud of witnesses," I have a suspicion of doubt, 

 until a twentieth, a botanist, says it is Agrostis stolonifera, or 

 Florin, a variety of bent-grass. 



If farmers would become familiar with the Latinized names 

 of plants, this being the common language of science every- 

 where, it would save a vast deal of confusion. A garden 

 flower, the pansy, with its "shining head of gold," and its 

 dozen nicknames, aftbrds an apt instance of the value of a 

 true, or botanical name, known as it is, as heart's-ease, lady's 

 delight, violet, step-mother, love and idleness, and Johnny 

 jump up ; when its Latinized name is Viola tricolor, meaning 

 three-colored violet. 



Pasture Grasses. 



So far we have spoken only of field grasses — such as are 

 or may be cured for hay by sun-drying a part of the water, 

 for the best made American hay contains from 10 to 14 per 

 cent. In the moist climate of England it contains 16 per 

 cent. There is a striking difierence in the per centage of 

 water in different grasses. Meadow foxtail,' when green, 

 containing 80 per cent., and herds-grass only 57 per cent. 



