INTRODUCTION 3 
they leave the plant, such as the extraction of sugar from 
sugar-cane, or the threshing of grain and its subsequent 
conversion into flour and bread or into starch or alcohol, 
may belong to chemical technology. In the present work 
it is proposed to emphasize the botany connected with 
the economic phases of agrostology, but information will 
not be excluded from brief mention when necessary for a 
proper understanding of the subject, even though this 
information would fall naturally under some allied branch 
such as agronomy. 
3. Systematic agrostology—tSystematic agrostology 
treats of grasses from the botanical as distinguished from 
_the practical or economic side. Strictly speaking system- 
atic agrostology should be synonymous with taxonomic 
agrostology; that is, it should concern itself with the 
botanical classification or natural relationship of grasses. 
In the present work it includes also such morphology as 
is necessary for a proper understanding of. classification 
and also brief references to ecology and some general 
information less easily classified. 
4. The uses of grasses.—In a future chapter grasses 
are technically defined and distinguished from other 
plants. The term grass is generally understood to include 
herbaceous plants with narrow leaves, such as timothy, 
blue-grass, and redtop. The farmer often understands by 
grass any small herbaceous plant, especially such as is 
used for forage. In this sense he includes among the 
grasses such leguminous plants as alfalfa and clover. 
There are a number of plants with narrow, grass-like 
leaves that also may be confused with the grasses. Among 
such plants are the sedges, rushes, and certain lilies or 
lily allies. On the other hand the layman may not recog- 
nize as grasses the larger members of the family, such as 
