shes GRASSES. 
yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his 
kind ; and it was so; and God saw that it was good.” 
The term grass, as it is sometimes used in Scrip- 
ture, evidently includes a great variety of plants, as 
in the passage commencing with, “If God so clothe 
the grass of the field which to-day is and to-morrow 
is cast into the oven,” &c., it undoubtedly alludes to 
the various smaller herbs which commonly grow in 
the fields, as in those days the stems of plants were 
often gathered by the poorer classes, and used for 
fuel. 
Of what is commonly called grass, there are many 
varieties, some of them possessing properties which 
render them very useful; while others seem to be 
created for the special purpose of beautifying the 
earth. Children may often be seen plucking their 
tall straight stems, and seem to take much delight in 
arranging them into bunches; and we might suppose 
that the interest generally felt in the soft verdure 
and the cool and refreshing appearance of a luxuriant 
grassy field or lawn, would excite in all but the most 
indifferent a desire of knowing something more than 
that certain plants are called grasses, as an acquaint- 
ance with their structure and properties cannot fail 
to afford both instruction and entertainment. 
The vegetable kingdom is divided into three great 
natural orders, called Acrogenous, Exogenous, and 
Endogenous, terms referring to their different modes 
of growing. ‘To the last of these belong the grasses. 
The word Endogenous means ingrowing ; that is, the 
increase in the growth takes place upon the interior 
am 
4a 
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