THE GRASSES 



CHAPTER I. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GRASSES PLAN OF THE WORK 

 FUNCTIONS OF THE GRASSES EXTENT OF THEIR DIFFU- 

 SION AND HOW DIFFUSED SEDGE GRASS AND OTHER 

 WORTHLESS VARIETIES OMITTED HOW TO TELL THE 

 GRASSES FROM SEDGES AND RUSHES. 



The value of grass in agriculture is aptly stated in the 

 old English proverb: 



"No grass no cattle, 



No cattle no manure, 



No manure no grass." 



Each line embodies a truth, and the three form an epi- 

 tome of successful farming. No surer test of the degree of 

 agricultural advancement of a country can be found than 

 the relative acreage of land laid down to grass and devoted 

 to tillage. Wherever the grass is most abundant there is 

 the highest farming. This statement is most strikingly es- 

 tablished by comparing the agricultural systems of France 

 and England. In France 53 per cent, of the tillable land 

 is annually sown in some kind of grain, while in England 

 the grain-bearing per cent, of land is only 25. On the 

 other hand, while France has but 22 per cent, in grass, 

 England has 50. Notwithstanding this difference in the 

 amount of land devoted to grain, the yield of wheat to each 

 inhabitant is almost identical in the two countries. Every 

 acre of grain land in England receives, on an average, the 

 manure from the animals fed off three acres of grass. In 

 France, on the contrary, the manure made from each acre 

 of grass has to be spread over 2J acres of grain. In other 

 words, each acre of grain in England gets nine loads of 

 manure to one load given to the acre in France. 



