INTRODUCTION 3 



they leave the plant, such as the extraction of sugar from 

 sugar-cane, or the threshmg of grain and its subsequent 

 conversion into flour and bread or into starch or alcohol, 

 may belong to chemical technology. In the present work 

 it is proposed to emphasize the botany connected with 

 the economic phases of agrostology, but information will 

 not be excluded from brief mention when necessary for a 

 proper understanding of the subject, even though this 

 information would fall naturally under some allied branch 

 such as agronomy. 



3. Systematic agrostology. — Systematic agrostology 

 treats of grasses from the botanical as distinguished from 

 the practical or economic side. Strictly speaking system- 

 atic agrostology should be synonymous with taxonomic 

 agrostology; that is, it should concern itself with the 

 botanical classification or natural relationship of grasses. 

 In the present work it includes also such morphology as 

 is necessary for a proper understanding of classification 

 and also brief references to ecology and some general 

 information less easily classified. 



4. The uses of grasses. — In a future chapter grasses 

 are technically defined and distinguished from other 

 plants. The term grass is generally understood to include 

 herbaceous plants with narrow leaves, such as timothy, 

 blue-grass, and redtop. The farmer often understands by 

 grass any small herbaceous plant, especially such as is 

 used for forage. In this sense he includes among the 

 grasses such leguminous plants as alfalfa and clover. 

 There are a number of plants with narrow, grass-like 

 leaves that also may be confused with the grasses. Among 

 such plants are the sedges, rushes, and certain lilies or 

 lily allies. On the other hand the layman may not recog- 

 nize as grasses the larger members of the family, such as 



