^^(g,iy-A[^l3) 





DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VIII. 



BOSTON, APRIL, 1856. 



NO. 4. 



JOEL NOURSE, Proprietor, 

 Office.. ..QuiNCT Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, EDITOR. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, J Editors. 



GRASSES AND THE SMALL GRAINS. 



LL FLESH IS GRASS. 



Never were words 

 more true, or more 

 full of meaning, 

 than those of the 

 Prophet Isaiah, 

 when he said, "All 

 flesh is grass." — 

 These four words, 

 ^nnple and unimportant as 

 thej at first seem, lead to a 

 tiain of thought and investi- 

 gation that results in the con- 

 ^iction that all flesh is literally 

 grass ; that this is the prime 

 basis upon which rests all our 

 agricultural operations, and 

 that without it, civilization, 

 nay, life itself, could not be 

 sustained. 



Cotton is a cinlizer, and, 

 more than all missionary ef- 

 fort, is introducing the comforts of artificial life 

 among the rude and untutored in every part of the 

 world. Like the introduction of stoves and window 

 glass, it has shed new blessings on the race ; only 

 in its importance it far transcends them both. De- 

 prived of the glass, the stove, the cotton, and even 

 of wool, a limited number might still supply a few 

 of the first j^hysical requirements, and live. But 

 not so with grass. Strike that out, and all anima- 

 ted existence dies without it : first the insect race, 

 then the graminivorous, or grass-eating animals, 

 then the carnivorous, or flesh-eating, and then, in 

 the dismal train, man himself. And as if to stamp 

 the grasses with the seal of usefulness, in every 

 way, what a noble and exalted j^urpose they dis- 

 charge in covering the earth with unnumbered 

 forms of grace and beauty of coloring. How beau- 

 tifully they adorn the surface, and "thus make man- 

 ifest to us, in their very existence, and in all their 



^^ 



thousand wonders, the Almighty Creator of heaven 

 and earth." 



And yet the grass crop, so important in every 

 respect, has not received an equal attention with 

 the animals that are to be supported by it. 



The grasses comprise a numerous family, some 

 four thousand varieties having been noticed, scat- 

 tered over various parts of the globe ; but among 

 these, only some twenty kinds, which will in one 

 summer produce rich food, independent of the dry 

 heat and rigid cold of our climate, have been 

 chosen, — and some three, four, or perhaps half a 

 dozen of these are under general cultivation among 

 us. The grains, as we term them, our oats, rye, 

 barley, wheat, and even Indian corn, are as much 

 grass, as the meadow cat's-tail or red-top. Their 

 seeds are larger than those of the herds-grass, and 

 therefore, more conveniently approjmated to our 

 use, so we distinguish them from the other grasses 

 by a specific name, and at length are apt to forget 

 that they belong to the same genus. 



"Grasses," said a distinguished philosopher, "are 

 Nature's first care. They are the most general, ex- 

 tensive, and hardy of the earth's productions. They 

 are nearly of endless variety, and adajjted to almost 

 every climate. They endure the trampling of men 

 and beasts, the browsing of cattle, the parching 

 droughts of summer, and the snows and ice of win- 

 ter, and spring into new and often more vigorous 

 life, under influences which to other plants would 

 prove destructive. 



"On mountain tops, where the warmth of the 

 summer's sun is not sufficient to ripen their 

 seeds, they live by their roots, and with thick, clus- 

 tering leaves protect these roots, producing there- 

 by the densest and most beautiful verdure. And it 

 is reported by one writer, that, for the preservation 

 of the grasses in those localities where the ripening 

 of their seeds is important, the wild beasts, guided 

 by a remarkable instinct, leave untouched the 

 stems that support the flowers." The manifesta- 

 tion of such an instinct would not be more wonder- 



