LECTURE. 



Pastures and Meadows, which have not been disturbed 

 by the plow for many years, differ in so many respects from 

 those newly made, and moreover are often so highly valued, 

 that it may be profitable to Consider in what this difference 

 consists, and the conditions upon which their superior excel- 

 lence depends. 



We may say that the old ones differ from new ones in at 

 least four important particulars. 



1st. The texture of the turf. 



2d. The species of grasses contained. 



3d. The qualities of the forage, and 



4th. Their diseases and mishaps. 



In these particulars the differences arc the most obvious, 

 but in the lesser details, many others might be enumerated. 



A true turf or sod belongs only to temperate or cool and 

 moist climates ; to regions where more or less snow falls in 

 the winter, and where the drouths of summer are not too 

 frequent nor excessive. Botanists are acquainted with many 

 thousands of species of grasses, I know not how many, but 

 more than 4000 species have been described, classed in some 

 300 genera, constituting a well-marked natural order or fam- 

 ily of plants, which order stands first in importance to 

 man. It includes all our cereal grains as well as those plants 

 known more familiarly as grasses. They are found in all 

 climates, and in all parts of the world. But only those be- 

 longing to the temperate and cool parts of the earth form 

 a true sod ; and furthermore, only a small proportion of 

 those belonging to any one region, even if not too hot, has 

 this habit. Nearly 200 species of this family are enumerated 

 by Botanists, growing in our Northern States, including all 

 the cultivated cereal grains grown here, but of this number, 

 perhaps not more than 30 or 40 species at most, form any con- 



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