ORNAMENTAL GRASSES. 



liRIZA MAXIMA. 



THOSE who grow Everlastings for winter decoration will need a few of the Grasses to work 

 up with them. If the grasses would retain their color, as do the flowers, it would be a great 

 blessing, but they lose, even when dried with care in the shade, most of 

 their green color. In Europe, the Grasses are grown extensively and 

 dyed of various colors, and in this condition we import them, and many 

 varieties are really elegant, especially the Stipa pennata. Even without 

 this coloring they will be found very useful. Some persons are quite ingen- 

 ious in dyeing the Grasses, and make them look very pretty with a little 

 coloring matter. We know that this coloring of flowers and grasses is 

 not exactly in good taste, as a rule, but we are almost ready to say, 

 anything to enliven winter, and these Grasses do look pretty when worked 

 up judiciously not lavishly with winter wreaths. Cut about the time 

 AGROSTIS NEBULOSA. o f flowering, tie up in little bunches and 

 dry in the shade. Those that flower the second year, like the 

 Stipa and Bromus, must be marked in some way or they will 

 be destroyed for weeds, as they look so much like common grass. 

 We have lost a good many crops for the want of this caution. 

 They are perfectly hardy, and will endure the winter just as well 

 as any of our wild grasses. The Agrostis nebulosa is a very fine ' 

 grass, indeed, so very fine and small 

 that we can hardly represent it in 

 an engraving. Briza maxima is 



the well known shaking grass, really one of the most valuable of 

 our grasses. There are several varieties of Briza, all but maxima 

 quite small. Erianthus Ravenna is a perennial grass, perfectly 

 hardy, and the best large grass we know of for a northern climate 

 much better than Pampas Grass, which it resembles. The 

 flower stems are ten feet in height. Stipa pennata is the beautiful 

 Feather Grass, really the most graceful and beautiful of all the 

 small grasses. We show it as grow- 

 ing, just as the plant begins to 

 flower, and also a bunch of the per- 

 fected grass, as often used for win- 

 ter ornament. We have named 



ERIANTHVS RAVEN'N.E. , /- r .1 i ^- 1_ 4. 



only a few of the best varieties, but 



a full list of all desirable kinds will be found in our regular seed 

 list of varieties. Many will be surprised that we have not in this 

 page spoken of the beautiful Pam- 

 pas Grass, which perhaps has no 

 rival where the winters are not very 

 severe, but in the Northern and 

 Middle States it suffers sorely in 

 the winters. Almost every one, 

 also, has some favorite variety, and 

 almost any of the grasses, if gath- 

 ered at the proper time and well 

 cured, are useful and handsome in ; 

 the winter. Cut the grasses be- 

 fore the flowers open, tie up in 



little bunches, and hang them in the shade. When sufficiently dry, pack them away out of the 

 dust. Somewhat of a variety is secured by cutting grass at different stages of growth. 



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