PREFACE. V 



soon controverted, for Captain Waterhouse, in writing to Captain 

 Macarthur in the early part of the century, says : " That he had 

 kept sheep, and found them do well on the natural pasturage, and 

 he believed that good pasturage would be found for any number of 

 sheep that may be raised. He, therefore, ridiculed the idea of 

 artificial grasses being necessary." The opinions entertained by 

 Captain Waterhouse nearly 100 years ago have been amply verified 

 by subsequent experience. 



Those who have done original w r ork to popularise Australian 

 grasses are : Mr. Walter Hill, late Colonial Botanist of Queens- 

 land, and Director of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, who was, I 

 believe, the first person in Australia to recommend the systematic 

 cultivation of, and carry out experiments with, the indigenous 

 grasses. Mr. F. M. Bailey, F.L.S., and the late Mr. K. T. Staiger, 

 F.L.S., who published electrotypes of some Queensland grasses, 

 with a few notes on their importance in pastures. The late Mr. 

 W. H. Bacchus, who published figures of some Victorian grasses, 

 with notes of his observations of them, and the late Rev. Dr. W. 

 Woolls, F.L.S., who published a paper on the grasses of New 

 South Wales. In none of these illustrations are any anatomical 

 drawings shown. 



It would be superfluous in this preface to enter upon the present 

 condition of Australian pastures and pasture plants, for in the 

 introduction, and in the synopsis of three special reports already 

 referred to, this subject is treated in a comprehensive way. 



In the present volume I have not only endeavoured to show the 

 habit of growth of each grass that is figured and described a very 

 important matter from a pastoral and agricultural point of view 

 but to give full dissectional details of the inflorescence of each 

 species, so that no possible mistake can occur in identifying it. 

 The anatomical drawings are the first that have ever been made of 

 Australian grasses, and I have no doubt that they will be fully 

 appreciated by scientists, students, and others who have a desire 

 to be better acquainted with this important part of the Australian 

 flora. There is both a scientific and a popular description of the 

 economic value of each species that is figured ; the etymology of 

 the scientific names is also a feature of the book, it being my desire 

 to make it as popular as possible without in any way taking from 



