AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE FODDER. 



Remarks. Grows about hedges in the rains. " Cattle are not fond of 

 it." (Roxburgh.) 



Cynodon Dactylon. Pers. Creeping Cynodon. 



Linn. Sytt. Triandria Digynia. 



Vernacular. JJurva, Sans. Doorba, Doobla, Beng. Doob, Ghaner, 

 Hind. Hurayalee, Dec. Arugampillee, Tarn. Gherka, Ghericha, 



Habitat. Europe, India. 



Remarks. The aypoxms of the Greeks according to Fraas. " Its flowers 

 in their perfect state, are among the loveliest objects in the vegetable 

 world, and appear, through a lens, like, minute rubies and emeralds in 

 constant motion Yrom the least breath of air. It is the sweetest and most 

 nutritious pasture for cattle; nd its usefulness added to its beauty, 

 induced the Hindus, in their earliest ages, to believe that it was the man- 

 sion of a benevolent nymph. Even the Veda celebrates it ; as in the 

 following text of the A't'harvana : ' May Durva, which rose from the 

 water of life, which has a hundred roots and a hundred stems, efface a 

 hundred of my sins, and prolong my existence on earth for a hundred 

 years!' ' It is sacred also to Ganesha. Durva and Doorba must not be 

 confounded with Darbha a svnonyme of the celebrated Cusha grass. See 

 "Miscellaneous" Class. 



Sorghum VUlgare. Pers. Indian Millet. 



Linn. Syst. Triandria Digynia. 



The stalks, Kurby. 



Vernacular. Zoorna, Sans. Joar, Jaundri, Kurbi (stalk), Hind. 

 Yoar, Kangra. Jowaree, Jondla, Dec. Jolah, Can. Chavela, 

 Mai. Cholum, Tarn. Jonna, Jonnalo, Ramudi-talambralu, Tel. 

 Taam, Arab. Kaydee, Durra, Egypt. 



Habitat. The East Indies, widely cultivated. 



Remarks. See " Cereals." " The grasses, forming the greatest por- 

 tion of the pasture for horses, cattle, and sheep, in most parts of the 

 world, at the same time that they yield grain, which forms three-fourths 

 of the food of man, are necessarily the most important class of plants 

 in an economical and political point of view." "The cultivation of 

 pasture-grasses having only recently formed a part of English agriculture, 

 it cannot be expected that much attention should have been paid to the 

 subject of hay and pasture -grasses in India, though some districts as that 

 of HURRIANA,* like the natural pastures and meadows of the British 

 isles, are celebrated for their pastures and herds of cattle. 



* The grasses of Hurriana belong to the genera Panicum, Pcnnisctum, Cenchrus, 

 Chataria, Vilfa, Dactylocteniunt , Chloris, Eleusine, Achrachne, Poa, JSmgrostis, 

 and A ndropogovi) the grasses of the Doab only finer perhaps. Royle, Hima. 13ot, 

 p. 421, note. 



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