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NEW E .N G L A N D F A R ^i E R 



JUNE 9, J841. 



GRASSES. 



We cnpy the following extracts from "a Dis- 

 course before the Chester Qoiinty (Peiin.) Cabinet 

 of Natural Science, by Wm. Daklington, M. D. 



" I propose to attempt a cursory notice of the 

 character, properties, am! importance to man, of 

 a single tribe, or family, of the veyetablfi creation, 

 known to the naturalists by the name of Graminea;, 

 or the true grasses; and while I calculate with 

 some confidence, upon a foUow-feelin^i; among the 

 Botanical portion of the audience, 1 am not with- 

 out a hope, that, in a district so distinguished for 

 its agricultural advancement, the subject will also 

 be found to possess a degree o{ general interest. 



Before entering into particulars, however, it may 

 be useful to moke some preliminary explanations — 

 or, as the politicians say, to '-to define our position." 

 The term grass, in our vernacular tongue, is fre- 

 quently used in a vague sense, to designate every 

 kind of herbage found in our meadows and pastures. 

 Hence, we often hear people speak of clover, lu- 

 cerne, and other plants whicli have no botanical 

 affinity with the Irue grasses, as though they really 

 belonged lo Ihat remarkable tribe of vegetables. 

 But such is not the language of naturalists ; and 

 ought not to be, of any well-informed person. An 

 accurate knowledge of objects can neither be ac- 

 quired nor communicated, without precision in the 

 use of terms. The distinctive characters of that 

 family of plants of which we propose to treat, are 

 now well understood, and have been satisfactorily 

 defined. 



Whenever we meet with a plant having a cylin- 

 drical, jointed stem, with the joints solid, and the 

 intervening portions hollow, or, in a few instances, 

 filled with a pith-like substance, — the leaves alter- 

 nate, one originating at each joint, embracing the 

 stem with its base, and forming a sheath which is 

 slit on one side down to its origin, — and the flow- 

 ers protected by those peculiar envelopes, known 

 by the name of chaff, — we may take it for granted 

 tliat we have before us a true grass. Brief and 

 simple as is this definition, it will be found to con- 

 tain the most obvious characteristics of the tribe ; 

 sufficient, it is believed, to distinguish it from all 

 others. While we are on the subject, however, a 

 few additional traits may perhaps be adverted to, 

 with propriety. The cnticte, or skin of the grasses, 

 (for they have no bark, properly so called,) contains 

 a considerable portion of 3i7f.r, as is shown by its 

 vitrification, when stacks or other dense masses of 

 Mnthrashed grain are burnt. A sort of grass is 

 produced from this silcx, which preserves the form 

 of the plant even to its minutest parts. The nerves 

 or veins in the leaves of this family, are all nearly 

 parallel — in consequence of which, those appenda- 

 ges (i. e. the leaves,) are entire, generally narrow, 

 elongated, and more or less linear in their form. 

 The flowers are mostly small, disposed in little 

 clusters or spikeleta, and these spikelets are vari- 

 ously arranged, in spikes, racemes, or loose pani- 

 cles. Each spikelet — consisting sometimes of one, 

 but more commonly of two, three, or many florets — 

 is usually embraced or supj)orted at base, by two 

 chaffy pieces called gtvmes ; and each floret is im- 

 mediately protected by two somewhat similar chafly 

 coverings, which, for tlie sake of distinction, tire 

 denominated palecE. Thesi; chtiffy coverings of 

 the flowers and seeds of the grnsses, are wholly un- 

 like the delicate and showy floral envelopes of most 

 other plants, and seem to be, in fact, the mere 



stunted vestiges of abortive leaves, or rather of 



their sheaths, closely crowded together. 



Having thus hastily glanced at some of the more 

 striking features of the extensive tribe, technically 

 denominated grasses, and the characters by which 

 they are distinguished from other plants, I flatter 

 myself we shall liavB no difficulty in recognizing 

 any member of Ihat family which may come in our 

 way. It will be no news, indeed, to any of us to 

 be told that " Red-top," " Timothy," and " Fo.K-tail," 

 are grasses ; and wo all, perhaps, may be aware, 

 tliat our cultivated Oats, Barley, Wheat and Rye, 

 and even Rico, belong to the same category: but 

 the 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. Much as these last mentioned plants 

 seem to differ from the multitude of common grass- 

 es, 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 superfi- 

 cial observers, finding it so much easier to adopt 

 them, than to verify the crude notions of the vul- 

 gar, have actually supposed several species to be 

 continually and reciprocally changing into each 

 other. 



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 lime 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 

 before flowering, and is most perfectly elaborated 

 at that epoch, is designed to be ultimately concen- 

 trated and deposited in the seeds, chiefly in the 

 form of farina ; and hence we find the herbage of 

 comparatively little value after the fruit is fully 

 matured. The skilful agriculturist, therefore, 

 when he wishes to have good hay, cuts his grass 

 at the moment when the nutritious juices are most 

 perfect, and while they are difl^used througliotit 

 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 finish- 

 ed. It is needless to enlarge on the importance of 

 the herbage of the grasses, in supplying the food 

 of our dome.-itic animals, and, indirectly, the ani- 

 mal portion of our own food, f will, however, 

 mention those species which are deemed of cliief 

 value in our meadows and pastures, naming them 

 in what I consider the order of their excellence. 



1. Thi," meadow, or Green Grass, erroneously call- 

 ed " Blue Grass," in Kentucky, (Poa pratensis, L.) 



2. Timothy, or the " Herd's Grass," of t.'ie North- 

 ern States [Phleum pratettse, L.) 3. Orchard 

 Graas (Dactytis glomerata, L.) 4. Weado%v Fescue 

 (Festuca praiensis, L.) 5. Bine Grass, (Poa com- 

 pressa, L.) 6. Ray Grass, (LoUum perenne, L.) 

 7. Herd's Grass, of Penna., often called "Red-top;" 

 the " Bent Grass," of the English, (Agroslis vulgaris, 

 L.) — and 8. Sweet-scented Vernal Grass, (An- 

 thoxanthum oiJoratum, L.) Those generally culti- 

 vated here, are the Timothy and Orchard Grass ; 

 and occasionally we see the Ray and Herd's Grass, 

 or Red-top, though these last are not so much es- 

 teemed. 'I"he others are completely naturalized ; 

 and when the soil is either originally fertile or 

 adequately improved, the best of them, viz: the 

 Meadow Grass and the Fescue, soon appear spon- 



taneously in our pastures, and supersede the arti- 

 ficial ones. 



The least valuable, perhaps, of Cerealia, or those 

 grasses which are cultivated here for the sake of 

 the seeds, is the common Oats, (Arena saliva, L.) 

 This grain is lighter and less perfect with us, than 

 it is in the north of Europe, and is almost entirely 

 appropriated here, to the feeding of domestic ani- 

 mals ; but in less favored climes, it contributes 

 largely and directly to the sustenance of man. The 

 better quality of this grain is sometimes malted, 

 when the demand warrants or rewards the labor; 

 and a small portion is manufactured into meal, as 

 an article of diet for the sick ; but both these ope- 

 rations are very limited in our country. 



Ascending in the scale of value, we next find 

 Bai-ley (Hordeum vulgare, L.) — a grain which, in 

 some regions, is extensively used fiir bread, and 

 more or less as food for horses and other stock ; 

 but in our own coiintry, it is almost exclusively 

 employed in the manufacture of a rich potation, 

 known to ns all by the names of Boer, Ale and 

 Porter. The immense crops produced in the mid- 

 dle and northern States, are nearly all destined for 

 the breweries, a comparatively small portion being 

 used in the distilleries. To prepare the grain for 

 these establishments, it must undergo the process 

 of malting, or incipient vegetation, in order to form 

 the sugar, which is the source of the alcoholic 

 strength of fermented and distilled liquors. It is 

 found that when seeds begin to germinate, the fa- 

 rina or mealy portion is partly converted into su- 

 gar, by diminishing its carbon and augmenting the 

 proportion of its hydrogen and oxygen ; and this 

 saccharine transmutation is precisely the operation 

 of malting. The skill of the malster consists in 

 arresting the germination, at the critical moment, 

 when the formation of sugar is most complete and 

 abundant. This he does by drying it in a kiln. 



The grain next superior in impoitance — being 

 used to a considerable extent in making bread, is 

 Rye [Sccale cereah, L.J In our own Stale, from 

 I the force of custom, or prejudice, and the greater 

 abundance of wheat, we are in the habit of under- 

 valuing the bread made of this grain. But in many 

 districts, where the soil is better adapted to the 

 plant, rye is very generally used, and highly es- 

 teemed. It is also employed lo a most mischiev- 

 ous extent in the production oi llie ardent spirit 

 called whiskey. In this case, tli^' preliminary ope- 

 ration of malting, though Boim limes practiced, is 

 generally dispensed with, as being to^: cosily. The 

 grain is merely chopped, or coarsely ground, and, 

 in conjunction with a small per centage of malt, .s 

 subjected to fermentation; by which process, also, 

 the farina loses a portion of its carbon, and becomes 

 sufficiently saccharine to yield large quantities of 

 impure alcohol. So great is the amount of ardent 

 spirit procured from this grain, and so tremendous 

 the abuse resulting from the practice, that it may- 

 be doubted, on the whole, whether rye does not 

 contribute more largely to the ilcstruction than to 

 the «!ts/ena»ce of human life. Certain it is, that 

 by the conversion of its wholesome farina into an 

 intoxicating draught, it is made a potent instru- 

 ment of physical and moral evil — a most prolific 

 source of disease, misery and crime. All these 

 mischiefs, however, arise from the misapplication 

 and abuse of a positive good ; for which man, him- 

 self, must be held accountable, and mu.st expect 

 the penalties inseparable from folly and wicked- 

 ness. 



The next most valuable plant among the Cerealia 



