2 FIRST BOOK OF GRASSES 



trate the different modifications and to prepare the 

 student to comprehend the greater modifications 

 shown in subsequent lessons. 



The classification of grasses, that is, the grouping 

 together of related forms, is based on the characters 

 of the aggregate of minute flowers and bracts known 

 as the spikelet. It is necessary, therefore, for anyone 

 who wishes to be able to identify a given grass to 

 imderstand the structure and modifications of the 

 spikelet. This primer is really an elementary study 

 of the morphology of the spikelet. [Morphology is a 

 branch of science that treats of form and structure. 

 The study of the morphology of the spikelet enables 

 one to recognize its various organs under whatever 

 form they may assume.] 



USE OF TECHNICAL TERMS 



Many persons who might otherwise make an 

 effort to learn something about our common wild 

 flowers and trees, as well as grasses, are deterred 

 by the sight of the unfamiliar words used in botanical 

 descriptions. This supposed lion in the way, if one 

 will but draw near enough to see, is only a "harmless 

 necessary cat." No boy learns a trade, no girl 

 learns to sew without learning the names of the tools 

 used. Words like hames, whippletree, terrets, and a 

 hundred more, meaningless to the city-bred rider on 

 a trolley-car, are familiar terms to the farmer. ^ Such 



1 Mark Twain's description (in "A Tramp Abroad ") of 

 how they hitch horses in Europe is a good example of the con- 



