GRASS IS KING. (57 



Of the staple crops of the United States, tlxe grass family con- 

 tains about five-sixths of the total value. 



The cereals and the pasture grasses the world over, are of more 

 value to man and his domestic animals than all other plants 

 taken together! Vastlv more than half of the value to man of 

 all vegetation belongs to one family, the grasses. "Grass is king. 

 It rules and governs the world. It is the very foundation of all 

 commerce, without it the earth would be a barren waste, and cot- 

 ton, gold, and commerce all dead." — (Solon Robinson.) 



Grasses are remarkably and evenly distributed in nearly all 

 parts of the habitable globe, in every soil, in society with others 

 and alone ; under the equator or in Greenland, wherever moisture 

 and sufficient heat favors the earth, there grasses are a leading 

 feature of the flora. 



In the whole world the famih^ ranks fifth in size ; the Co7n- 

 positcB ranking first, the LeguminoscB second, the Orchidacece 

 third, tlie Rubiacece fourth, the GraminecB fifth. This does not 

 convey an adequate idea of the value or number of grasses in 

 unwooded regions, because the number of individuals of many of 

 them is exceedingly large. Doubtless there are more individual 

 plants in the grass family than are found in all of the others 

 named above. 



In the words of Dr. Bessey, of ^Nebraska: 



"When we come to the inquiry as to what proportion of plants 

 of a given area are grasses, we find the number varying very 

 much from those just given. For example, in forest regions the 

 actual number of grass plants is much lower than it is in the 

 same region after the forests have been partially cut off; and if 

 again we compare the latter with the prairies we observe a still 

 greater increase. There are many great tracts in Nebraska, miles 

 and miles in extent, over whose whole surface the grasses consti" 

 tute fullv nine-tenths of the actual vegetation.'" 



