AKTTIOXANTII0M. 



279 



The Order of the Grasses prevails wherever there 

 is a soil, ill all countries and climes, varying in species and 

 habit with the climate. In cool, temperate regions, they are 

 dwarfed and crowded, forming a soft carpet of turf. In 



6, creeping rhizome of Witch Grass {Tnticum repens). 



warm or torrid regions they form no turf, but grow apart, 

 enlarged, even arising into trees like the stately Bamboo. 



The order is no less valuable to man than vast in extent. 

 It furnishes sweet herbage as fodder for animals, and farina- 

 ceous grains as food for man. No poisonous herb is found 

 among them except perhaps the Darnel.* 



The Common Oat, A'dena satita, is said to be a native of the Island 

 of Juan Fernandez. Its grain is richly nutritious both for man and 

 beast. The grain is firmly inclosed in its husk — the pales — from which 

 it is first separated in the manufacture of oat-meal. The Wild Oat, 

 or Animated Oat, is Avena fdtua. Its long hygrometric awn is put in 

 motion by slight changes in the moisture of the air. 



Barley is the grain of ITorden??} disticlmm and H. mdgdre, the former 

 the Two-rowed, the latter the Four-rowed. Native country unknown. 



Rye {Seadle ceredle) is next to Wheat in value for bread-making. It 

 is chiefly cultivated in Russia and Germany. 



* Said to be a narcotic poison ; but this has not been fully proved. It is the eame 

 I)lant {LoHum termilenhim) alludei to in St. Matthew as Tares. Some Grasses wivh 

 creeping subterranean stems, as Quick Grass (7'?*i<icM//? repent) are troublesome weeds. 

 Others of similar habit, as Eli/mun arcnm'ins, P.-^amma are7mna. bind tbe loose sand 

 of the sea-shore together, preventing incursions of the sea. Numerous floating islands 

 in the River Amazon are formed chiefly of Grasses. They are called LUuifi de Capim. 

 Some of these islands are acres in extent, and from .') to 8 feet of their thickness is 

 under water. (See Harper's Magazine, February, 1879.) 



