106 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



In case this Society should be presented, which is not improba- 

 ble, with a collection of anj^ considerable size or value, an arrange- 

 ment might be made with one of the herbaria in this neighborhood, 

 to deposit it with their collection, thereby improving an herbarium 

 alread}' existing and provided with the proper means for carrying 

 it on. The members of this Societ}' could refer vexed questions to 

 those in charge of these collections, quite as readily" as to a par- 

 tially complete collection in the Society's rooms, and with much 

 more satisfactory results. 



Discussion. 



Leander Wetherell expressed himself as very much pleased with 

 the paper which had been read, both as to its suggestions and objec- 

 tions. If we should collect a general herbarium we should require 

 an additional building for its accommodation, and the expense 

 would be even greater than was estimated by Mr. Robinson. It is 

 ver}^ difficult for those unused to it, to identify plants by herbarium 

 specimens. Schleiden, in speaking of the errors made by British 

 writers on plants, said that any of the authors or editors were 

 competent to correct them if they had gone into the field instead of 

 to the dried specimens. As an illustration of the little knowledge 

 of ferns possessed even by educated persons, and the need of such 

 collections as that presented b}^ Mr. Davenport, Mr. Wetherell 

 said, that last summer he heard two graduates of Amherst speak- 

 ing of the flowers of ferns. He approved of the proposal that 

 we should complete the collection of grasses, of which we have so 

 good a nucleus, and also suggested a collection of heaths. He 

 had a small collection of grasses of his own, which he found very 

 useful in identifying those sent to him for name ; they are more 

 valuable than the best engravings. He knew of no department 

 of botany, concerning which there is so much need of informa- 

 tion among farmers, as on the grasses. The "blue grass" of 

 botanists is the Poa compressa, while the blue grass of agricul- 

 turists is the Poa pratensis. He went with a friend to Kentucky, 

 to see what the famous blue grass was, and found it the same as 

 the June grass of New England, but growing much more luxu- 

 riantly, one stalk being four feet seven and one-half inches in 

 height, while a plot averaged from three to three and a half feet. 

 Brutus J. Clay said the early emigrants were in the habit of stop- 

 ping at a place called " Blue Licks," and the farmers of Kentucky, 



