16 THE GRASS FAMILY. 



grasses is mealy or farinaceous, as wheat, for instance, 

 or rye, or Indian corn, which are most used as seeds, 

 on account of their size and productiveness. 



These are the prominent characteristics of this great 

 and universally diifused order of plants, constituting, as 

 it does, the chief support of animals as well as man. 

 They belong, as has been seen, to other plants than those 

 commonly called grasses ; the order Graminece, as I 

 have already stated, embracing the grains, as wheat, 

 barley, rye, and many others, while it does not include 

 the clovers, which properly belong to the order of legu- 

 minous plants. 



These characteristics, or at least the most important 

 of them, will be very easily kept in mind, as the long, 

 narrow, and lance-shaped leaves, and the mealy nature 

 of the seeds, which makes so large a part of this family 

 valuable and nutritious ; but in studying the distinctive 

 characteristics of the different species and varieties par- 

 ticularly valuable or interesting to an agriculturist as 

 forage plants, it will be necessary to depend much upon 

 the technical terms already referred to, though in the 

 following pages these will be avoided, or explained in 

 the context as far as possible. 



It will have been observed that considerable import- 

 ance is given to the flowers and seeds as distinguishing 

 characters of the grasses. It will often be found diffi- 

 cult from the mere external appearance of a variety of 

 grass to determine to what species, or even to what 

 genus, it belongs, so great is the resemblance between 

 the different species of this class of plants ; but, with the 

 aid of a small magnifying glass, there will very seldom 

 be much difficulty in determining the species, especially 

 if the plant is taken while in blossom. Indeed, it will 

 often be possible to arrive at a conclusion from an 

 inspection of a few of the more evident characters. 



