PEEFACE. 



The design or plan of this work is simply the illus- 

 tration of an idea which I have long entertained of 

 the requirements of a book on the grasses tliat 

 would meet the wants and merit the approval of the 

 practical farmer. With this object in view, I have 

 made a selection of the most valuable of the true 

 and artificial grasses, and brought them out, as it 

 were, in bold relief, in the first and second parts of 

 this work, thus bringing them in close proximity to 

 each other for the purpose of a close and thorough 

 examination of their respective merits. The analy- 

 ses given are those made by Professor Way, of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, and are universally ac- 

 knowledged to be the most reliable ones ever made 

 of the grasses. By a careful comparison of the anal- 

 ysis the reader is made acquainted with the compar- 

 ative nutritive values of the grasses analyzed. Fol- 

 lowing this is given the history of most of the val- 

 uable grasses from the different periods of their in- 

 troduction until tlie present time, and the experience 

 and directions for their successful cultivation by emi- 

 nent practical agriculturists in both countries. In 

 order to avoid confusion in the names of genera and 

 species, and to assist in making the natural system 

 the standard one of this country, also to make this 

 work acceptable in part to the student of Botany. In 



