IV PREFACE. 



The local names of many species of grass are so 

 numerous that I can hardly hope to have given them all, 

 in every case, though what are known to me I have given 

 as synonyms. Should the work meet with such favor as 

 to call for another edition, I shall attempt to make it less 

 imperfect in this respect. 



It may not be inelevant to remark here that but little 

 is known of the real economical value of some of the 

 grasses which I have described, and it is by no means 

 impossible that many of our wild grasses which we now 

 look upon as almost worthless, may be found at some 

 future time to possess valuable nutritive qualities, and 

 thus be added to our list of grasses which may be 

 profitably cultivated. 



It seems to be altogether unnecessary to multiply 

 authorities, either here or in the body of the work, to 

 prove the importance of the subject. Perhaps the most 

 forcible exj)ression of opinion on this point may be found 

 in the French writer who asserts that the term grass is 

 only another name for beef, mutton, bread and clothing ; 

 and in the Belgian j)roverb — " No grass, no cattle ; no 

 cattle, no manure ; no' manure, no crops ! " For myself I 

 can only say that if my researches, — impei-fect as they 

 doubtless have been, — shall have the effect of creating a 

 more general interest in the subject, and leading to more 

 careful inquiry and more general and accurate mvestiga- 

 tion, I shall be amj^ly rewarded for any labor I may have 

 undergone in the preparation of these pages. 



C. L. F. 

 Boston, Feb., 1857. 



