Q BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the grasses are called monocotyledonous , an inconveniently 

 long word of Greek derivation, to express the fact of their 

 having but one seed-leaf. The clovers, which are not true 

 grasses, are known as exogens or " outside growers," or as 

 dicotyledonous or " two-leaf plants." With the exogens, each 

 year's growth forms a ring, so that be it a clover or a cedar, 

 it exhibits as many concentric rings as it is years old. 



The most of the grasses are hollow ; a few have the hollow 

 filled with pith like a corn stalk. When herds-grass is grown 

 on muscle bed, the pith becomfes quite solid in the stem. 



Importance of Grass. 



When Cato was asked what was the best system of farm- 

 ing, he thrice answered, "to graze well" — to procure food 

 for cattle. The force of Cato's answer is seen, in that the 

 grass crop is one of the three great crops of the country, and 

 that more land is devoted to its cultivation than to any other 

 product. Its importance, nothing in the "language I have 

 lived in," can express. The "grass faileth ;" what a symbol 

 of desolation ! What a synonym of famine ! Considered in 

 a utilitarian point of view, and the grass plant has a stronger 

 claim on the farmers of Maine, than any other product of her 

 soil. 



The " Official Crop Estimates " show that Maine's acreage 

 in hay is nearly three times the combined acreage in corn, 

 wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat and potatoes, and at 

 $11 per ton, is of twice the cash value of all the other 

 products. Computing the pasture area at double that of the 

 held, and the grass crop of Maine is worth $42,000,000; 

 that of the United States, $600,000,000. Of the 24,000 

 species of plants which veil the face of nature, one-sixth are 

 grasses. The known grasses of America and her islands in 

 the sea, constitute more than one-twelfth of her " green things 

 growing." Even the weeds, (plants not in place) — and who 

 is sufficient to tell what is a weed — even the weeds await 

 only an experimental future to reveal their place and purpose. 



