554 AGRICULTURE. 



masts for vessels, and many other purposes ; as the bamboos of 

 China, Japan, and India. 



The grasses are of greater economic importance, as furnish- 

 ing food for man and animals, than any other or all other plants. 

 The truth of this remark will at once be recognized when we 

 consider that all the staple cereals of the world, as wheat, rye, 

 barley, maize, rice, oats, millet, etc., are grasses. 



These grasses have been objects of cultivation from time 

 immemorial. There can be no doubt that they were originally 

 selected from wild forms, on account of the size, quality, and 

 nutritive value of their grains. The fact of their great value 

 being discovered, the observation would soon follow that, by 

 planting the seeds in suitable ground, and caring for the grow- 

 ing plants by the exclusion of all other vegetation, a certain and 

 reliable resource for sustenance would be obtained. 



This was the beginning of agriculture, and agriculture made 

 possible the numerical increase and diffusion of human popula- 

 tion. 



History of Grass Culture. The selection and cultivation of 

 particular kinds of grasses, with reference to their superior 

 grazing qualities, and for the greater production of hay is, how- 

 ever, a comparatively modern practice. 



In the Philippine Islands, as we are informed by the United 

 States Consul at Manilla (Mr. Julius G. Voight), a species of rice- 

 grass (Leersia hexandrd) is cultivated for the purpose of supply- 

 ing feed for the few domestic animals which are kept for the 

 cultivation of land, and for the carrying of burdens. 



This grass (locally called zacate) is cultivated exclusively in 

 low, wet ground, and is flooded occasionally after the manner of 

 rice, being first started in seed-beds, and then transplanted to 

 the previously flowed field. How far this custom prevails in 

 other eastern countries, we do not know, but from the general 

 antiquity and uniformity of the practices of husbandry in those 

 countries, we may suppose that this practice there is of ancient 

 origin. 



But as far as western nations are concerned, the cultivation 

 of special grasses for hay is a modern improvement. Mr. Mar- 

 tin J. Sutton, in a recent work on " Permanent and Temporary 

 Pastures," states that Lolium perenne, or perennial rye-grass, 



