"two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before" is the most 

 certain road to wealth and commercial supremacy. But even corn 

 and wheat are the matured fruit of the grasses, as well as oats, 

 rye, barley, rice and nearly all other bread-grains that enter into the com- 

 merce of the country. Exclude the grasses from agriculture and the 

 value of farm products would be reduced fully five-sixths. 



HOW TO TELL A GRASS.— At the very outset several important 

 questions likely to be asked by the unscientific farmer, should be an- 

 swered. How shall I tell a grass? What are its most distinguishing 

 characteristics? How shall I separate it from other forms in the vegeta- 

 ble kingdom? Without attempting to instruct such a farmer in the 

 science of botany a few elementary principles may be laid down, which 

 will aid him in determining a grass from other lowly forms of vegetable 

 life and may lead him to a more extensive study in this delightful field of 

 inquiry. 



Point of separation of the .sheath (.s) and blade 

 (spr). ^.. li\ Daclylis glomera/a I,. \i. \i\ Ammophila 

 ariindiiiaiYa Ho.st. 1. Ligiile. C. Flowering glume 

 of Biomi/s Aloprciiriis Poir. 



1 — A true grass, with rare exceptions, has either a hollow stem; or it 

 is filled with pith, like Indian corn or broom grass, commonly called 

 "broom sedge." 



2 — A cross section of the stem is circular or elliptical, but generally 

 round. 



3 — The stem or stalk or culm of a grass is divided into sections and 

 the continuity of the hollow in the stalk is broken by cross partitions. 

 These partitions are located at the nodes. The parts of the stalk between 

 the nodes are called joints or internodes. In other words the stalk or 

 culm is separated like pipe stems or fishing poles by the intervention at 

 intervals of a solid partition, which partition closes the tube. 



4 — The leaves of grasses are always alternate, that is, only one at a 

 joint. The leaves have a sheath that encloses the stem, but this sheath 



