GLUMACE^. 229 



any other vegetable, and perhaps as many as by most of the 

 others together. The range of latitude through which rice is 

 found, is considerably less than that of maize. 



With very few exceptions, the seed of the proper grasses, so 

 far as is known, is healthful. A very troublesome weed in Eng- 

 land, a grass, Lolium temuhntum., and one or two species of 

 Bromus, are said to have poisonous seed. 



Various other grasses merit a moment's notice. 



Millet is cultivated for its seed in Europe, and Eleusine coracana, 

 on the Coromandel coast. Sugar, and its kindred articles, are 

 obtained from the grass Saccharum. Others also contain much 

 sugar, as one species of Holcus ; and, by fermentation of the 

 seeds of several grasses, much sugar is developed. 



Some grasses are finely aromatic, as Sweet Vernal Grass, and 

 Holcus odoratus, both which contain benzoic acid, which exhales 

 from them ; also Cyperus odoratns. 



In adverting to the use of the grasses for the food of man, it 

 should be remarked, that the Potato, Buckwheat, Yams, Mani- 

 hot. Batatas, Bananas, Breadfruit, several Palms, and some es- 

 culent species of Arum, by means of which so many millions are 

 supported, belong to other orders of the vegetable kingdom. 

 The same remark should be made in respect to Pea, Bean, Cab- 

 bage and Turnip, Pumpkin and Squash, and various other plants. 



2. The use of the grasses in the arts and conveniences of 

 living. 



The broom-corn has become an article of necessity. The 

 Arundo arenaria^ and Carex arenaria, are of great use by their 

 roots, in making firm the sandy shore of the sea, and the former 

 is often wrought into ropes, threads, mats, bags, and lately into 

 paper in this State. Every form of straw hat, from the finest 

 Leghorn, and its equally fine imitation from the other grasses, to 

 the coarsest kind, reminds us of this delicate use of the straw^ of 

 rye, wheat, red-top, &c. The papyrus of the Egyptians, was 

 from a sedge grass, Cyperus papyrus^ L. Several of the grasses 

 are used in the manufacture of chairs and mats, for wicks of can- 

 dles, for the stuffing of sofas, and the like. The starch of wheat, 

 and the gluten of rye and wheat, as paste, are of great conse- 

 quence in several arts. 



