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THE GRASSES OF MID-CUMBERLAND. 
By Wm. HODGSON. 
(Read at the Workington Annual Meeting.) 
WHEN I was first invited to contribute a botanical paper for the 
present meeting, it was intimated to me that the flowering plants 
of the West Cumberland district would be amply cared for by my 
friend Mr. Adair of Whitehaven, but that it was desirable that 
some notice should also be taken of the Grasses, Sedges, Mosses, 
etc., indigenous to the County. Here a wide field was certainly 
offered ; and after some deliberation, I decided to confine my 
remarks to the Graminez of Mid-Cumberland, choosing this title 
for the obvious reason that, though my rambles in the pursuit of 
general Botany have been both frequent and extensive, there yet 
remain two large tracts of my native county which I have had no 
opportunity of exploring. Northward of the River Eden, and 
southward of the River Ehen, remain to me a sort of ferra incognita, 
or unknown land. I ought also to mention that the Grasses have 
not been specially studied; but only came in for their share of 
notice with other botanical productions of the districts examined. 
Next occurred the question, how can such a paper be drawn up 
in a manner calculated to be of permanent service to the Associ- 
ation, or to the agricultural portion of the community outside its 
limits? It cannot fail to have struck even a casual observer, that 
of late years a much larger proportion of the surface of Cumberland 
has been applied to grazing purposes, than was the case thirty or 
forty years ago—that orn is ascending, and corm descending in 
the scale, Such being the case, it becomes a matter of serious 
