138 KORTH-OAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. % * 



Glyceria fluctam, flourishes in the sluggish waters of streams ; 

 and what is singular, the carnivorous trout feed and fatten 

 upon them. The broom grass, worthless as it is for stock, 

 clothes the worn out soil and protects it from washing. It is 

 better it should be covered even with broom grass, than burn 

 in the sun and be washed away by the showers. Like these, 

 all great classes or divisions of natural productions, the dif- 

 ferent families and groups have special duties assigned to 

 them, which they assiduously fulfil, whether it be a higher 

 and more honorable function, that of supplying nutritive food 

 for cattle, or the lower and humbler ones, to protect a barren 

 soil. The first perform a double office, as they protect equally 

 well the soil beneath them; the latter is simply protective or 

 passive. As grasses have their preferences for certain soils, 

 as the wet, or dry, or one moderately wet, so they also re- 

 quire a particular climate. The Timothy grows but indiffer- 

 ently in North-Carolina. It requires a cooler temperature^ 

 or a less scorching sun. Upon the mountains constituting the 

 Blue Ridge, and the adjacent ranges, it grows as well as in 

 New England, where it is the most important of the grasses, 

 and a source of wealth to the inhabitants. The north may 

 have a few species which are restricted by climate ; the south 

 also has a climate which is suited to many which find the 

 north incongenial to their constitutions. But most species of 

 grass have wide ranges ; they are less restricted when they 

 are considered only as to ability to live, but do not grow 

 freely ; they appear under restraint and fail to make them- 

 selves of much importance. 



A moist atmosphere favors development, and the produc- 

 tion of a juicy tissue. A dry and cool atmosphere favors a 

 dense, dry and wiry tissue, a hard outside, and a tendency to 

 form woody fibre. Animals avoid the latter and seek the 

 former. They are not only sweeter and more palatable, but 

 require less effort to masticate, and less wear of the teeth, in 

 consequence of the smaller quantity of silex in the dermal 

 tissue. 



The great variety in the constitution of grasses secures a 

 succession of kinds for the seasons. The early spring has its 



