354 



NATURE-STUDY 



in a neighborhood. It will show the great variety there is. 

 In the meadows and pastures are June grass, timothy, red 



top, bent grass, blue joint, and 

 on the western prairies the buf- 

 falo grass, all valuable fodder. 

 Millet is often sown in the fields 

 for fodder. In our northern 

 swamps and lake and river bor- 

 ders is wild rice. Some grasses 

 are considered more as weeds: 

 Squirrel-tail, old-witch's grass, 

 wild rye, and sand bur are road- 

 side weeds. Pigeon grass, green 

 foxtail, and quack grass are 

 common in the fields and else- 

 where. Barnyard grass is tall 

 and coarse, growing around 

 barnyards and rich, low places. 

 The lawns are made unsightly 

 in midsummer by the low, 

 spreading crab grass. 



The cereals should be studied 

 from the botanical as well as 

 from the commercial standpoint. 

 Compare them with the grasses 

 and it will be seen that they have the narrow, clasping 

 leaves, the hollow stems, the solid joints and, also, the flow- 

 ers of grasses. In fact they are grasses, cultivated for their 

 seeds. Even our Indian-corn or maize, sorghum, sugar 

 cane, and the bamboo are grasses. 



A good time to study grains is in the fall. It may be 



FIG. 148. Timothy Grass in Flower. 

 (Notice the long pendulous stamens.) 



