112 GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



Willard's Bromus, (bromus secaliiius.') 

 Soft Brome Grass, (bromus mollis.') 

 Slender Foxtail, (cdopecurus agrestis.') 

 Creeping Bent Grass, (agrostis stolonifera.') 

 Couch, or Twitch Grass, (triticum repens.') 

 Rough Stalked Meadow Grass, {poa trivialis.) 

 Annual Meadow Grass, (^poa annua.) 

 Blue, or Wire Grass, (jjoa compressa.) 

 Of these, the last four are not always considered as weeds, 

 since they are sometimes soAvn as pasture grasses ; but when 

 they appear in cultivated grounds, in gravel walks and avenues, 

 they are exceedingly troublesome and difficult to eradicate. 



Each of the groups indicated above may be coiisiderably 

 enlarged by a study of the natural history of the grasses pre- 

 sented in the foregoing pages. 



Many of the grasses which have been described, possess but 

 little value for the purposes of cultivation, it is true, but it 

 should not be forgotten that they all have their uses, and these 

 uses in the grand economy of nature are exceedingly impor- 

 tant, however they may appear to our short sighted vision. No 

 plant comes up to the sunlight or expands its beautiful leaves, 

 that does not derive its support in part from the atmosphere, 

 and even though its life be short, it adds materially in its decay 

 to the vast mass of vegetable mould which covers the surface 

 of the globe and forms the richness of the soil. This surface 

 mould has been accumulating for ages in many localities ; 

 every plant that grew in ages past bringing down to us in a 

 tangible form the riches with which the air that surrounded it 

 was stored, which now lie waiting the farmers' use in meadows 

 of exhaustless fertility, in swamps and bogs of ^ast, increasing 

 utility in our agriculture, and in beds of peat, the value of 

 which we have scarcely begun to appreciate. Thus, the grasses 

 which are not cultivated for their direct nutritive qualities, are 

 not without their value, and they deserve our careful study 

 and attention. 



