192 



Botanical JVames. — JVeglect of Agricultural Pursuits. Vol. V, 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Botanical Names. 



Botanists throughout the world know 

 plants by the same name ; whereas, farmers 

 and others in different countries, and in dif- 

 ferent sections of the same country, have va- 

 rious names for the same plant, which leads 

 to difficulties sometimes of an unpleasant 

 character. 



In reading hooks or essays on agriculture 

 or horticulture, I have often met with the 



scientific names of grasses or other plants, 

 when the means of explaining them were not 

 at hand, and the information expected to have 

 been obtained was lost. If it will not be in- 

 compatible with the designs of the Farmers' 

 Cabinet — which I esteem one of the cheapest 

 and most valuable periodicals published in 

 this country — I will furnish a small table of 

 a few of the common grasses, &c., with their 

 botanical names, in the hope that it may be 

 useful to some of your readers. 



GRASSES. 



Scientijic J^ames. Common JVames. 



Trifolium Prateiise Common Red Clover. 



Trifoliiim rppens White clover. 



Phleuin Pratense Timothy, (this, in the eastern states, is known by the name of Herd grass.) 



Agrostis vulgaris Herd grass, or Red top. 



Dactylis glomerata Orchard grass, or Cock's-foot grass. 



Poa compressa Blue grass, or Wire grass. 



Poa Pratensis Green grass. Meadow grass, or Spear grass, (this is called, in Kentucky, Blue grass.) 



Digitaria sanguinalis Crab grass, or Finger grass. 



Lolium perenne Ray grass, or Darnel. 



Authaxanthum odoratura. i Sweet-scented Vernal grass, (it is this which gives to new-mown hay its fragrant 



Andropogon nutans Indiangrass, or Wood grass. 



Medicago sativa Lucerne, or Spanish Trefoil. 



Hedysarum onobrychis Sainfoin, or Cock's-head. 



GRAINS. 

 Scientijic JVames. Common JVames. 



Triticum Wheat. 



Secale Rye. 



A vena Oats. 



Hordeum Barley. 



Polygonum Fagopyrum Buckwheat. 



Zea mays Indian Corn. 



Neglect of Agricultural Pursuits. 



Can any farmer designate to us a single 

 branch of the mechanical arts which mani- 

 fests so little improvement as in too many 

 branches of agriculture ] We do not deny 

 that very great advances have been made, 

 and wonders have been achieved in some de- 

 partments, but we are not — as we should be 

 — in the front rank in the march of improve- 

 ment ; and one very obvious reason for this 

 is, the notorious disinclination of farmers to 

 avail themselves of the aid of the great lever 

 of modern science — the Press. The very 

 fact, of one item of knowledge having reach- 

 ed the press whence in one day it may be 

 more widely disseminated than it could be 

 orally in a year, is, prima facia, the reason 

 why it should not be rejected as " Theory," 

 and "Book Farming;" for let those imagine, 

 if they can, what would have been the pre- 

 sent condition of the world, had the spread 

 of all human knowledge been restricted to 

 oral communication ! the extent of this bigot- 

 ed prejudice is scarcely credible ; and admit- 

 ting that the complaints against "Theory" 

 are just, v;hy are those who make them, so 

 loth to give us their " Practice ]" Now, in 

 any neighbourhood, five out of ten farmers 

 do not cultivate corn in the same manner, 



and the quantity produced, varies as much as 

 the manner. Then why not use the readiest 

 means of comparing their different modes, 

 and ascertain tlie best 1 there is no necessity 

 that an e.xperiment should be confined to one 

 acre ; let, then, every observant farmer care- 

 fully note tlie process of cultivating his an- 

 nual crop and the attending circumstances, 

 and report them to the public — he will thus 

 furnish all the data necessary to satisfactory 

 comparisons; and, if it must be so, let ug 

 know the reason why we must content our- 

 selves with from ten to twelve bushels of 

 corn at harvest, when over thirty have been 

 obtained. What would each man know of 

 England and France, did he trust to his indi- 

 vidual observation 1 Ninety-nine hundredths 

 of our knowledge is only the testimony of 

 our fellow-men. — Kentucky Farmer. 



By a report from a select committee of 

 the British House of Commons, it appears 

 that 1150 different articles are subject to im- 

 port duty, besides some that are not commu- 

 nicated — the total amount of revenue from 

 these is £22,962,610 ! The duty on tobacco 

 amounted, in 1839, to nearly seventeen mil- 

 lions of dollars, being in the proportion of 

 36d. on 6(1, worth of tobacco ! 



