REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 79 



United States") is of very great value. In Upper India we have extensive tracts 

 (called usar land) devoid of cultivation, owing to an excess of saline ingredients in 

 the soil (salts of soda). There are two or three kinds of grass which apparently 

 thrive in such soil, one of which, called "usar grass" {Sporobolus tenacisaimus), rep- 

 resents the only vegetation over extensive areas of this usar land; the other grasses 

 which affect usar in less abundance are Eragrostis ciliaris and E. cynosuroides. 

 The Sporobolus appears to be a good fodder grass, as it is greedily eaten by cattle. 

 I can not help thmking that it would be well worth while trying to introduce from 

 other countries any species known to thrive in saline soil, and I should he exti'emely 

 obliged if you could put me in the way of obtauaing the seed of such kmds. 



The usar grass above referred to is, according to a figure of the plant 

 in "Illustrations of the Forage Grasses of Northwestern India," very 

 closely related to our Spoj-obolus cryptandrus, which abounds on 

 the arid plains of the West. 



From Timaru, New Zealand: 



Noticing in an Austi-alian paper an account of some of your native grasses, which 

 would seem to be desu-able to add to present varieties in New Zealand, I take the 

 liberty of writing you upon the subject. Unfortunately om- native grasses are nearly 

 all delicate, fine annuals, which disappear before heavy stocking. The prevailing 

 grass or tussock {Poa australis) is a wiry, hard grass, that yields no feed except when 

 burned in spring and the tender, green shoots spring up. Thereafter it becomes a 

 hard, wiry ounch-grass, that sheep never eat, and seems to serve for shelter to the 

 finer sorts. There appears plenty to eat, but sheep do not touch it unless starvation 

 drives them. Cultivation has driven out the native grasses, and those sorts com- 

 mon to England are in use here. We want varieties which might tlu'ive here. The 

 only one yet that does is Kentucky blue-grass. 



From Prussia, Europe: 



I have for a number of years been experimenting with A'arious plants at the Agri- 

 cultural Institute of the Halle University, and would like to do the same with the 

 native buffalo-gi-ass of the United States, which is illustrated and described in the 

 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1880. I have not 

 been able to get the seed in Europe. 



RELATION TO OTHER BRANCHES OF THE DEPARTMENT. 



The natural sciences are intimately related to and dependent on each 

 other. The plants which are the care of the Botanist are often sub- 

 ject to the destructive deiDredations of insect foes, and the aid of the 

 Entomologist has to be obtained to learn the name and history of such 

 insects. Again, the Botanist and the intelligent cultivator of plants 

 find that insects have much to do with the fertilization of plants, and 

 that without their aid, in many cases, the production of fruit would 

 be much diminished, or entirely fail; in other words, success in cer- 

 tain crops is largely dependent on the good offices of these insect 

 friends. In such instances as these botany and entomology come into 

 close connection. 



The Chemist is often required to make an analysis of plants or veg- 

 etable products having medicinal or poisonous proj^erties, and he finds 

 it important to know the name, botanical character, and affinities of 

 such plants or products, and for that purpose calls in the aid of the 

 Botanist. The Ornithologist may be pursuing investigations into the 

 .food habits of birds to ascertain which are granivorous, and which are 

 insectivorous. He finds that he needs the assistance of the Botanist 

 in identifying the seeds and grains which he finds in the stomachs of 

 his birds. 



Thus each division of the Department is an aid to the other, and the 

 development of each is required not only for its own work, but also 

 for the aid which it may furnish the others. The following statement 



