178 LUTHER BURBANK 



stand why this tribe of plants is so commonly 

 neglected by the amateur. 



But when we reflect that the family includes 

 the most important producers of food for man 

 and animals; and when we further reflect that 

 there are doubtless many species still undevel- 

 oped that might be brought into the company of 

 economic plants, along with wheat, oats, rye, 

 corn, and rice, it is evident that the grasses 

 should be second to no other form of vegetation 

 in their interest for the plant developer. 



Nor will the plants themselves be found to lack 

 interest when once their acquaintance is ^ade in 

 the right way. 



They vary in size from tiny sprigs of vegeta- 

 tion to the giant pampas grasses, and to bamboos 

 two hundred feet in height and six inches in 

 diameter. We have already seen that their prod- 

 ucts comprise not merely universal food and 

 forage for domestic animals, and grains of ines- 

 timable value, but juices (in the case of cane and 

 sorghum) that are second in importance only to 

 the grains themselves. 



We saw too that there are minor products, such 

 as the panicle of the broom corn, that have no 

 small measure of usefulness. And it is known to 

 everyone that the stalks and straws of the various 

 grasses have a wide range of utility in the manu- 



