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LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 



SIR: Herewith I present a Report on the Agricultural Grasses and 

 Forage Plants of the United States, with illustrations. 



This report is largely a revised and enlarged edition of the "Agricult- 

 ural Grasses of the United States" published by this Department in 

 1884. In the present report the principal forage plants, other than 

 grasses, which are employed in agriculture, are treated of. The purpose 

 is to give plain, general descriptions of the plants, together with prac- 

 tical notes and observations from persons who have tested them in 

 actual cultivation or who have given them special investigation. The 

 larger portion of the plants treated of are natives of the United States, 

 but such foreign species as have been tried here have also received 

 proper notice. 



The great extent of this country, with its extraordinary diversities 

 of climate and soil, makes necessary a corresponding diversity iu the 

 subjects and methods of agriculture. With respect particularly to 

 grasses and forage plants adapted to different sections of the country 

 we are yet in the infancy of our knowledge, and must patiently and in- 

 telligently conduct such experiments as will give us the precise infor- 

 mation we need. Every farmer and stock-raiser in the country is in- 

 terested in this subject, and it has been the endeavor of the writer to 

 present to the attention of such persons in any part of the country 

 some grasses or forage plants suitable to their wants. 



Respectfully, 



GEO. VASEY, 



Chief of Botanical Division. 

 Hon. J. M. RUSK, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



