LEADING FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 337 



many of the purposes for which we employ wood, various 

 fibers, earthenware, and metals. It is almost the only material 

 used in house construction and in bridge 

 building ; it is used for fences, water pipes, 

 troughs, jars, mats, baskets, and miscel- 

 laneous household articles. 

 Straw of many kinds 

 of grains is braided into 

 mats, baskets, and hats, 

 and is much used in mak- 

 ing coarse paper ; it is also 

 used as a winter food for 

 domestic animals. 



Esparto, a very tough, 

 coarse grass imported from 

 Spain and the North Af- 

 rican coast, is extensively 

 used in paper-making and 

 for stuffing mattresses. 



Sugar cane, a very large 

 solid-stemmed grass (Fig. 

 273), is considerably raised in Louisiana and 

 in some Southern states, and more extensively 

 in the West Indies, Hawaii, and Java. Once 

 it was almost the only source of commercial 

 sugar, and it still furnishes about a third of 

 the world's supply. Its growth and commercial 

 use have been an important factor in tropical 

 industrial life. 



Meadow and pasture grasses are highly im- 

 portant to man. The best meadows are usu- 

 ally carefully sown with selected seed, but 

 pastures are generally self-sown with grasses 

 of many kinds. Most of the grasses valuable for haymaking 

 or for pasture grow best in northern climates, with moderate 

 summer temperature and abundant rainfall. This fact makes 



FIG. 270. Pinnately 



netted-veined leaf of 



foxglove 



FIG. 271. Spike- 

 like panicle of 



vernal grass 

 (Anthoxanthum) 



a, mature anthers. 

 Slightly enlarged 



