THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



497 



mealy, it is always innocent and nutritious— even 

 vvlien the residue of the plant is poisonous. In 

 some instances, it is replete vvitii oil — as in tiie 

 po|)py tribe ; and in (he seeds of the coffee plant, 

 the albiinien is ol' a huriuj texture. There are 

 other and large tribes, again, — such as the Icgu- 

 tninoas pianls— including our common garden 

 beans, peas, clover, &c. — in which the seeds are 

 wholly ileetitule of the appendage called albumen; 

 — the miniature plant completely filling the iti- 

 tegumenis of the seed, and its chief bulk consist- 

 ing of two thick, flestiy lobes, called cotyledons. 

 These lobes, or cotyledons, are llie crude /)rtm«n/ 

 leaves of the future plant (appropriately called 

 protophylles, by the French botanists,) — and doubt- 

 less serve, in some degree, as substitutes for albu- 

 men in supplying nutriment during the first stages 

 of vegetation. 



Having thus hastily glanced at some of the 

 more striking ligatures of the extensive tribe, 

 technically denominated grasses — and the charac- 

 ters by wliicli ihey are distinguished from other 

 plants — I flatter myself we shall have, no difiicul- 

 ty in recognizing any number of that liimily which 

 may l)ereafter come in our way. It will be no 

 news, indeed, to any of us, to be told that " red- 

 top," "timothy," and "Ibx-iail," are grasses; 

 and we all, perhaps, may be aware, that our 

 cultivated oats, barley, wheat and rye — and even 

 rice — belong to the same category : but tlie fact 

 may not be equally familiar to every one, that our 

 Indian corn, and broom corn — the sugar cane, and 

 the bamboo — are also true and genuine grasses. 

 JVluch as these last-mentioned | lants may seem to 

 differ (i"om the multitude of common grasses, the 

 disciplined eye of the botanist perceives at a 

 glance, that they all belong to the same family: 

 and indeed, so eminently natural is the whole 

 tribe — i. e., so strong is the general resemblance 

 in the characters and habits of its members — that 

 superficial observers, finding it so much easier lo 

 adopt, than to verily the crude notions of the 

 vulgar, have actually supposed several species to 

 be continually, and reciprocally, changing into 

 each other!* It is to be hoped, however, that 



* It is a curious circumstance, in the history of this 

 vulgar error, that, in former times, when tlie occult 

 sciences flourished, the peasantry of Europe imagined 

 all our cultivated small giains to be subject to this 

 kind of transmutation ; — that wheat was often changed, 

 first into rye, then into barley, from barley to ray 

 grass, or lolium, from lolium to bromus, or cheat, and 

 finally, from bromus to oats ! They supposed, moreo- 

 ver, that by the agency of a fertile soil, the degene- 

 rate grass could be gradually restored to its original 

 form ; or, at least, that it could be brought back as far 

 as rye ! — " Veteres credebant frumentum per gradus 

 degenerare in macriori terra, atque triticum in secale, 

 secale in hordeum, hordeum in bromum, bromum in 

 avenam et sic per gradus descendere, immo ciedebant 

 etiam seminabromi vel hordeiin fertiliori terra produ- 

 cere secale."— Carolia Linne, Jmanitates Academica, 

 torn. 5. Even in oui own enlightened age and coun- 

 try, as we are wont to phrase it — there are yet many 

 persons strongly tinctured with the notion, that wheat 

 is frequently transmuted into bromus, or cheat;— 

 though I have not met with any so full in the faith, as 

 to believe they can bring the degenerate offspring 

 back again to its pristine state. It is remarkable, 

 also, that this obsolete notion — so entirely exploded 

 among scientific naturalists— has lately found an advo- 

 cate in a gentleman of some pretensions, as a geolo- 

 VoL. IX.-46 



our ingenuous youths will yet learn to discriminate 

 between truth and error, in the objects around 

 them ; and not be content — as a [)opular writer 

 expresses it — " lo wander among the productions 

 of nature with little more perception, or enjoyment 

 of her charms, than a cow on a common, or a 

 goose on a green." In this hope, and under this 

 impression it was, that I thought a rapid sketch 

 of tjo important a tribe of the vegetable cieatiou 

 miiiht be found in some degree interesting. 



The whole number of flowering plants, already 

 known lo the botanists, has been estimated at 

 ■,\hoiM forty thousand species, — of which it is sup- 

 poi^ed the gra.^^ses constitnle one twentieth part: 

 but if we take into the account, the immense 

 number of individuals of many species, the pro- 

 portion of grasses to vegetation in general will 

 be greatly mcreased. The known grasses of 

 Chester county, — native, naturalized, and cultivat- 

 ed — amount to about one hundred species, or 

 one-tenth of the whole number of flowering plants, 

 inhabiting the same district. A large portion, 

 indeed, of this vast liiniily, is not known to pos- 

 sess any properties which man has yet been able 

 to convert to liis own immediate advantage : But 

 it becomes us to be cautions how we decide upon 

 the value of objects, li'om the imperlect views 

 of their utilily, afforded by our limited knowledge. 

 Many created beings, which appear to us as nui- 

 sances, may be important agents for good, in the 

 general economy of nature. The most worthless 

 grasses — or the veriest weeds that annoy the 

 husbandman — ma?/ be the instruments of a wise 

 Providence, for collecting fertilizing principles 

 from every falling shower, or passing breeze, — 

 and imparting them, in turn, to the soil on which 

 ihey are finally decomposed. These silent and 

 imperceptible pioce^^ses may doubtless be extend- 

 ed, and their benefits enhanced, by human in- 

 genuity and co-operation ; but their spontaneous 

 occurrence, in the ifreat laboratory ol nature, can 

 scarcely elude the notice of the scientific ob- 

 server. 



With respect to locality, or peculiar places of 

 (rrowth, affected by this numerous tribe, there is 

 but little to remark.* We find grasses growing 

 on dry land, and in water; but none that are pro- 

 perly marine plants. They occur in every kind 

 of soil ; both in society with others, and alone; 

 sometimes occupying considerable districts, to the 

 almost entire exclusion of other forms of vegeta- 

 tion, and thus Ibrming the beautiful turf, so much 

 admired in lawns, and meadows. Sand appears 

 to be less favorable to their growth; but even 



gist, — and who has, more recently, acquired conside- 

 rable notoriety, by his researches concern! ng/errt'/onV/i 

 limits : I mean Mr. Feathcrstonehaugh. As that gen- 

 tleman has been so astute in detecting the mutability 

 of the laws of nature, — we ought not, perhaps, to be 

 surprised at his discovery of the extraordinary mula- 

 iion in our north-eastern boundary, since it was esta- 

 blished by ttie fathers of the republic ! It is quite as 

 likely that landmarks should change their locality, as 

 that objects of natural history should lose the distinc- 

 tive characters impressed on them by the hand of the 

 Creator. 



* A number of the facts and observations concern- 

 ing the graminecB, here presented, may be found in 

 Prof. Lindley's Natural System of Botany, — a most 

 valuable and interesting work, to the student of that 



