THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



499 



into_^t'fi grand divisions, or lvin<^doms : the kino;- 

 dom of rice — of maize — ol" wheal — ol' rye, — and 

 lastly of barley and oals. Tlio first three are 

 the most extensive ; the maize lias the i^realesi 

 range of temperature; but rice may be said to 

 support the greatest number of the human race.* 

 With relerence to the properties, and uses, ol 

 this comparatively humble trit)e of plants, it iiiiiy 

 be observed, that it probably contributes — directly 

 and indirectly — more largely to the sustenance 

 and comlbrt ol'lhe human lamily, than any, if not 

 all, of the other groups of ihe vegetable creation. 

 Those numerous specits which are regarded as 

 mere weeds, — which even the browsing herds ne- 

 glect, and trample under foot, — ni^y yet, as has 

 been intimated, be operative, in gradually lertiliz- 

 ing (he soil. Some have been found of great va- 

 lue, simply in fi.xing and keeping together the 

 blowing sands of the sea-coast, by their creeping 

 suckers and tough entangled roots. Among 

 these, the j-lrundo arenaria, L., and the Cynodon 

 dactylun, Pers., are the most remarkable. The 

 roots of the latter are also employed in India, ui 

 the preparation of a popular beverage. The 

 culms or stems of the grasses, have been put in 

 requisition for various economical, and even orna- 

 mental purposes. The arundo, just mentioned, 

 is extensively used in the Hebrides, lor making 

 ropes, mats, bags, &c. The brar.ches of ihe pa- 

 nicle, at the summit of our cultivated broom corn 

 (^Sorghum saccharatum, Pers.) furnish a large sup- 

 ply — as every one knows — of those convenient 

 implements, called besoms, and brushes. The 

 culms of rye afford a good material lor roofing, 

 and are much employed, by the farmers in Lancas- 

 ter and some other counties of this slate, in 

 thatching their barns. The Chinese manulacture 

 a delicate paper from the ri'ce plant; and in our 

 own country, a course but very uselul paper is 

 made from oat straw — and even from the husks ol 

 Indian corn. In the country of the bamboo, (Bam- 

 busa arundinacea, fVilld.) the culms of that 

 stately grass ILirnish spars lor the equipment of 

 sad-boats, and walking canes for the aid ofpedes- 

 trians ; while some of its slender congeners afibid 

 rods, lor our anglers, which honest Izaak Walton 

 himself might have envied. Large quantities of 

 paper, also, are made in China from the bamboo. 

 Some ol the reeds of Brazil are described as 

 living Ibuntains : they grow from 30 to 40 feet high, 

 with a diameter of six inches, form impenetralile 

 thickets, and are exceedingly gratelul to hunters ; 

 for on cutting off such a reed below ttie joint, the 

 stem of the younger shoots is found to be full of 

 a cool pleasant liquid, which immediately quenches 

 the most burning thirst. The fashionable world, 

 moreover, is indebted to the gramineous tribe, lor 

 some favorite anicles of dress. The well-known 

 head-dresses, from leghorn— so highly prized by 

 the ladies— are manultictured from the straw 

 of a delicate variety of wheat ; and in our own 

 country, many beautiful imitations of leghorn 

 hats and bonnets have been made from the slen- 

 der culms of the grasses,— particularly the mea- 

 dow, or green grass [Poa pratensis, L.] In the 

 days of our grandmothers, loo, this family of 

 plants contributed to the decoration of ihe rustic 

 lair: for even in those unsophisticateil limes, de- 

 corative appendages were not entirely eschewed. 



* Schouw, in Lindley — ubi supra. 



An humble eubslilule for necklaces of coral, and 

 pearl, was found in the fruit of an oriental grass, 

 olien seen in the gardens, whose hard and polish- 

 ed involucres are known by the name of Job^s 

 tears [Coix lachryma, />.] But it is not only the 

 means of adorning the person, that are to be de- 

 rived from this source. The fislular stem, or 

 culm of the grasses — especially of the oat-|)lani — 

 appears to have furnished the shepherds ol antiqui- 

 ty with the material for an instrument of music ! — 

 a.-:, in Virgifs first jiastoral, we find one of these 

 swains reclining under the shade of a spreading 

 beech, wooing his rustic muse, and wakening the 

 sylvan echos, with a slender oaten pipe, — or, to 

 adopt the language in which he is accosted by 

 Melibaus, — 



" Silvestrem icnui miisam meditaris avena." 



In an agricultural point of view, the superior 

 value of the grasses as materials for pasture and 

 hay, is owing to the large quantity of saccharine 

 matter with which they abound, about the time 

 of flowering; and which is the source of that 

 rich, sweet odor, observable in well-preserved 

 hay. This saccharine matter, which pervades 

 the whole plant belore flowering, and is most per- 

 Itjctly elaborated at that epoch, is desicrned to be 

 ultimately concentrated and deposited in the 

 seeds, — chiefly in the form oi' fatina; and hence 

 we find the herbage of comparatively little value 

 after the fruit is tully matured. The skilful ag- 

 riculturist, therefore, when he wishes to have 

 good hay, cuts his grass at the moment when the 

 liutritious juices are most perfect — and while they 

 are diffused throughout the plant. But when 

 his main object is the seed, — as in our cultivated 

 grains, — he of course postpones his harvest until 

 the career of vegetation is finished. It is need- 

 less to enlarge on the importance of the herbage 

 of the grasses, in supplying the food of our do- 

 mestic animals — ^and, indirectly, the animal por- 

 tion of our own food. I will, however, mention 

 those species which are deemed of chief value in 

 our meadows and pastures, — naming them in 

 what I consider the order of their excellence,!. 

 The meadow, or yreen grass, erroneously called 

 " blue grass," in Kentucky [Poa pratensis, £,.] — 

 2. Timothy, or the " herd's grass,' of the north- 

 ern states {Phlcum pratense, L.) — 3. Orchard 

 grass {daclylis glomerata, X.)— 4. Meadow fescue 

 [Festuca pratensis, L.'\ — 5. Blue grass \_Poa 

 compressa, Z.]— 6. Ray grass \_Lolium perenne, 

 //•] — 7. Herd's grass, of Pennsylvania, often called 

 "red top," — the "bent grass" of the English 

 [jjgrostis vulgaris, />.]— And, 8. Sweet-scented 

 [ vernal grass [/Inthoxanthum odoralum,L.'] There 

 are a lew other grasses — native, or partially na- 

 turalized — to be fljund on our liirms, — and which 

 are more or less, eaten by cattle, when the better 

 ones are wanting : But they are of comparatively 

 little value, — and good larmers are always de- 

 sirous to supersede them, as eoon ae possible, by 

 some ol those above named, it is remarkable, 

 that all the grasses here enumerated are believed 

 to have been introduced into our country. They 

 are all more or less extensively naturalized ; but 

 some of them require to be regularly sown, to 

 insure a full crop, — and are tlierelore known as • 

 artificial grasses. Those generally cultivated, 

 here are the timoihy, and orchard grass, — and 

 occasionally we see the ray, and lierd's graee, or 



