LIBRARY 



NOW YORK 



I^.()'J AN'iCAL 



(lAHOtiN 



ADVERTISEMENT, 



OR INTRODUCTION, 



TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 



Among the numerous tribes of vegetables which 

 clothe and embellish the earth, no one is more in- 

 teresting nor more extensively useful than the natu- 

 ral order Graminecs., or family of grasses. In every 

 temperate region the grasses form the general cover- 

 . ing of the naked soil, and collectively constitute that 

 verdant turf which yields the most nutritious pas- 

 turage, as well as forage for our flocks and herds, for 

 the pampered steed and for the labouring steer. 



Although the grasses are most luxuriant and also 



most abundant in the temperate latitudes, they are 



also distributed over tropical countries ; and though 



those warm climates present no constantly green hills, 



or valleys " thick with waving corn," yet such of the 



c\| grasses as are indigenous there, are of the greatest 



S importance to the half-civilized inhabitants. Their 



Co invaluable rice (oryza sativa), their prolific maize 



-^ (zea mays) and millet (panicum miliaceiim), and 



^ their equally productive Indian millet (sorghum vul- 



gare) are all cereals of the greatest consequence to 



