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an approximate idea of the remarkable distribution, tlnougb the vege- 

 table kingdom, of those plants which yield useful products. Botanists 

 have divided the known species of plants into rather more than 300 

 Natural Orders, containing about 9,000 genera, and probably 100,000, 

 certainly over 90,000, species; yet of all this vast number it is surprising 

 how few comparatively have yet been found to afford any useful pro- 

 ducts, and these are restricted to a very few of the great natural groups. 



The order now under consideration is probably the most remarkable 

 of all for the large number of its useful species, and their very great 

 importance to the human family generally, as well as to a very large 

 portion of the Animal Kingdom. I do not intend to refer specially to 

 those grasses which clothe the earth with that verdure which con- 

 stitutes one of its most glorious ornaments, and at the same time yield 

 the essential food of the animals most useful to man, and to innumerable 

 others whose indirect action is perhaps no less essential ; nor do I 

 intend to make any particular mention of those cereals which are in 

 common use in our own houses. My object is rather to bring before 

 you some facts in the history of those graminaceous plants which are 

 less generally known, or about which I hope to be able to raise some 

 new interest. 



The pasture grasses are numerous, and I shall say but few words upon 

 them. The most valuable are Festuca ovina (L.), or the sheep's fescue 

 grass, which is frequent on calcareous soils, and is said to occasion the 

 dehcate flavour of down-fed mutton, and is one of the grasses carefully 

 selected for ornamental lawns. Festuca praten sis (E. B.), various species 

 of Poa, the dogs'-tail grass, Cynosuriis cristatus (L.); two or three species 

 oiLolium, especially L. Italicum, the Italian Ptye-grass ; the Phleunis or 

 cats '-tail grasses, and Alopecurus or fox-tail grass. The beautiful odour 

 of new mown hay is owing to the mixture of Anthoxanthum odoratum, 

 (L.) which has the property of secreting Benzoic acid, in common with 

 several other species of Graminacea. 



These pasture grasses thrive best in the northern parts of the tem- 

 perate zone, but other climates are not devoid of similar useful products. 

 The prairies of North America wave with vast crops of coarse grasses, 

 yielding abundant food to the wild cattle and other beasts. The 

 Savannahs of the south produce grasses valuable as fodder, and remark- 

 able for their gigantic size, the most common species is Panicum 

 spectabile which resembles the reed in size, being often more than six 

 feet in height. In the jungles of India we find the coarse Cynodon 

 dactylon (Persoon). The Falkland Islands yield the celebrated tussac 

 grass, and in New Holland we find a most excellent fodder in the 

 kangaroo grass, Anthistiria Australis (Robert Brown). 



