PLANTS FOR EXPERIMENT 179 



f acture of numerous articles of everyday use, in- 

 cluding the mats beneath our feet and the hats 

 on our heads, as well as the food from the tubers 

 of the nut grass. 



Whereas it cannot be said that a family of 

 plants that is thus comprehensively in the service 

 of man having had, indeed, a most important 

 share in the development of civilization has 

 failed of recognition, yet it remains true that 

 there are perhaps thousands of grasses that are 

 almost surely susceptible of great improvement, 

 from the human standpoint, to which very little 

 attention has been given by the plant developer. 



These present an inviting field for further 

 development. 



I shall offer in the succeeding pages sugges- 

 tions as to a few of them, drawn from my own 

 experiences. To attempt to deal with all the 

 neglected grasses comprehensively, and to point 

 out every individual possibility of useful de- 

 velopment, would require volumes rather than 

 paragraphs. 



A NEW BREAD-MAKING POSSIBILITY 



One of the grasses upon which I worked for 

 several years was what is known in the catalogues 

 as "Idaho brome grass," classified as Bromus 

 inermis j or Bromus giganteus. 



