VI PREFACE 



component parts of vegetables^ as coincided with the plan 

 of this work. I have at the same time attended to the 

 cuhure and use of nine of the best artificial^ and eight of 

 ih^ hQsi natural grasses. 



It is a just matter of wonder in this age of improvement, 

 that so little attention should be paid to the laying down 

 of land with proper grass seeds. The quantity of land 

 annually laid down makes an attention to this branch of 

 rural oeconomy essentially necessary. 



Every husbandman ought to know how to suit his 

 grain and plants to the quality of his soil, but few are 

 acquainted with the nature and disposition of the best ar- 

 tificial and natural grasses 'that cover our arable and 

 pasture fields. The surface of the earth is cloathed with a 

 pleasing and wonderful variety of grasses. Some delight 

 in a moist soil ; others prefer a dry situation ; and yet so 

 little do we observe this order of nature, that grass seeds 

 of all kinds^ good and bad, are promiscuously sown upon 

 the same soil. 



Of late there has been much encouragement given to the 

 collecting of grasses by hand. It is here that the botanist 

 becomes useful to the agriculturist. He knows from his 

 kalendar of Flora, what grasses flower together, and what 



