80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



to the prevalence of this grass. There seems to be nothing 

 inconsistent in this supposition, since it is well known that dis- 

 agreeable flavors are often imparted to the milk and the butter 

 by the substances taken as food by the cow, as turnips, for 

 instance, or cabbages, or cauliflowers ; and if an objectionable 

 flavor may be imparted by one substance, it is reasonable to suj)- 

 pose an opposite flavor may be given by another. Much, of 

 course, depends on the manufacture ; as poor butter is found in 

 the Philadelphia market, as in any other, while as good could 

 be, and is found, in the Boston market as any in the world. 

 The best butter, I learn on inquiry, is as expensive in the 

 former city as elsewhere, while it is true that a high price 

 will command and obtain a good article wherever the art of 

 butter making is at all understood. 



I am informed by Dr. Emerson, of Philadelphia, to whom I 

 am indebted for valuable specimens of this grass, that he has 

 made experiments in flavoring other grasses with a slight 

 addition of benzoic acid in the form of an essence, previous to 

 feeding them out to milch cows, and that the flavor of the best 

 Philadelphia spring butter was thus imparted to the butter 

 made from them. 



A curious and beautiful peculiarity is exhibited in the seeds of 

 this grass, by which they are prevented from germinating in 

 wet weather after approaching maturity, and thus becoming 

 abortive. The husks of the blossom adhering to the seed when 

 ripe, and the jointed awn by its spiral contortions, when aff'ected 

 by the alternate moisture and dryness of the atmosphere, act 

 like levers to separate and lift it out from the calyx even before 

 the grass is bent or lodged and while the spike is still erect. If 

 the hand is moistened and the seeds placed in it, they will 

 appear to move like insects, from the uncoiling of the spiral 

 twist of the awns attached to them. 



The flowers of the sweet scented vernal grass are seen in 

 Figs. 80 and 81. There are 923,200 seeds in a pound, and 

 eight pounds in a bushel. It cannot be said to belong to the 

 grasses useful for general cultivation. 



Reed Canary Grass, (phalaris anindinacea.') Generic 

 characteristics : Spikelets crowded in a dense or spiked panicle, 

 perfect flower flattish with two neutral rudiments of flowers, one 



