THE MOST IMPORTANT FAMILY OF THE VEGETABLE 



KINGDOM 



"And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears 

 of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where 

 only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more 

 essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put 

 together." — Gulliver's Travels. 



Can one imagine the world grassless — a barren waste? The 

 shifting soil, exposed to the elemental workers, wind and water, 

 could offer no sure abiding place for man, since, lacking a tenacious 

 network of grass roots firmly binding the soil, the road of to-day 

 might be obliterated to-morrow, and the loftiest building gradually 

 buried beneath wind-blown sand. 



As soil-binders the grasses performed a leading part in the 

 important task of rendering the globe habitable to the human race, 

 and still sending their roots far and wide through the surface of 

 the ground the grasses form a turf which holds in check the de- 

 structive forces of wind and rain, and gives secure anchorage not 

 only to the lower growth of plants but also to trees and shrubs. 



Grasses were abundantly developed in prehistoric days, as 

 numerous remains of grass-like leaves attest, and since the earliest 

 tribes chipped rude implements for cultivating the soil, or for 

 their use in war, the grasses have exceeded in importance to man- 

 kind any other family of the vegetable kingdom. 



The green herbage of meadow and pasture is the chief food of 

 domesticated animals, and in this country the value of hay alone 

 exceeds that of any other crop except corn, which, be it remem- 

 bered, is itself a grass. Even the salt marshes yield their hay, and 

 in New England pastures, where rocks seem as numerous as grass 

 blades, sheep crop the wiry grasses of dry hillsides. 



A noted grass-garden was owned in Woburn a century ago by 

 the Duke of Bedford, and in this garden George Sinclair carried on 

 valuable researches of which he wrote in his " Hortus Gramineus 

 IVoburnensis." Tirelessly were the experiments made, in cultiva- 



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