Oct. 1, 1885 | 
NATURE 
925) 
prize offered by her at an agricultural show held at Frome 
last year, the result of which was satisfactory in drawing 
a considerable amount of attention to the subject, and 
one of the outcomes of which has been the preparation of a 
series of object lessons, so to speak, which have been 
elaborated from the plan of Mr. W. H. Haley, who took 
the prize at Frome last year. The plan ot these lessons 
is as follows :—One insect is taken as an example and 
the life-history of this particular insect is illustrated by 
showing the creature in all its stages of development 
where practicable, or by neat and accurate-coloured 
drawings of pupa, larva, and perfect insect, each 
stage of which is carefully labelled, then a spray or twig 
of the plant attacked, or a model showing the insect’s 
ravages is given, and in many cases also the parasites 
which attack the insect itself. Beneath this is carefully 
printed the life-history of the particular insect, and an enu- 
meration of the plants upon which it feeds ; and, finally, 
under the head of “Prevention and Remedies,’ some 
brief but concise instructions how to proceed to rid one’s 
crops of the pest. All this is arranged on a cardboard 
mount 12 inches long by 8 inches wide, and placed in a 
box with a glass cover, so that one insect only is treated 
of in one case, thus making the information imparted 
very clear, and preventing all confusion. Of the insects 
treated in this way are the turnip and cabbage gall weevil, 
turnip moth, turnip fly, cabbage aphis, large white cab- 
bage butterfly, cabbage moth, vine beetle, bean beetle, 
pea and bean weevil, winter moth, American blight on 
apple, magpie moth on gooseberry, celery-leaf miner, 
silver moth, beet or mangold fly, click beetle and wire- 
worms, goat moth, lacky moth, daddy-long-legs, and 
onion fly. 
Twenty of these cases have recently been prepared by 
Mr. Mosley, of Huddersfield, under the superintendence 
of Miss Ormerod, and are now in the museum at Kew, 
and a set of ten of a similar character are to be placed 
in the Aldersey School of the Haberdashers’ Company at 
Bunbury, Cheshire, where plain teaching on such subjects 
is being satisfactorily carried on. J; Rave 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL GRASSES? 
H OWEVER complicated the systematic synonymy of 
the Graminez may be, the popular nomenclature 
of the grasses is probably in an even more unsatisfactory 
state. Inthe former case the name of the author ap- 
pended to the scientific name of the plant is usually 
sufficient to dispel any ambiguity as to what particular 
plant is meant, even though that plant may have received 
half a dozen systematic names from as many different 
botanists. In the case of the trivial name, however, even 
this means of identification is lacking, and it is no un- 
common circumstance to find the same name applied to 
several different grasses, each one of which may, more- 
over, have one or two additional names. To those who 
are studying the grasses in their agricultural aspect this 
confusion is very perplexing, particularly as both the 
English and the American agricultural journals usually 
refer to a grass byits trivial name. The difficulties which 
surround this subject are well exemplified in the volume 
before us. For example, in American agricultural publi- 
cations the term “ salt-grass ” is frequently met with, and 
we searched this volume in the hope of finding out the 
species so denominated. But instead of one we find no 
less than four distinct species, in as many genera, called 
“salt-grass,” namely, Vilfa depauperata, Sporobolus 
atroides, Brizopyrum spicatum (Distichlis maritima), 
and Spartina juncea. Yo an English agriculturist foxtail 
means Alopecurus pratensis only, whereas in America 
* “The Agricultural Grasses of the United States.” By Dr. George 
Vasey, Botanist of the Department of Agriculture ; also, ‘‘ The Chemical 
Composition of American Grasses,” by Clifford Richardson, Assistant 
Chemist. (Washington; Department of Agriculture, 1384.) 
the name is also given to A. geniculatus, Hordeum murt- 
num, H, Jubatum, and Setaria setosa. Rye-grass in 
England is Lolium perenne; in America the term is 
applied in addition to four species of Elymus. Blue 
grass is the name given to four distinct species of Poa, 
varying considerably in their agricultural value, and one 
of these, P. prazenszs, often spoken of as Kentucky blue- 
grass, is also called “June grass,” “spear grass,” and 
“red top,” the last name being equally applied to Agros- 
tts vulgaris. Bunch grass is more vague in its applica- 
tion, for it embraces at least six species in five genera, 
while in Canada the same name is given to two other 
grasses, Elymus condensatus and Keleria cristata, the 
former of which is known in the United States as 
“siant rye grass.” The term “goose grass,” which 
in England is restricted to the rubiaceous hedgerow 
weed Galiwm Aparine, is, in America, applied to Poa 
annua, which is also called annual spear grass, and to 
Panicum Texanum, further known as Texas millet. The 
grass Holcus lanatus, which to all English farmers is 
known as Yorkshire fog, is variously termed velvet grass, 
velvet mesquite, satin grass, and meadow soft grass, this 
last term being also current in England. 
There are about 600 species of grasses in the United 
States, a few only of these having been introduced. The 
work under notice embraces descriptions of 120 species, 
each accompanied by a plate. Of these, about forty, 
included under twenty-six genera, are identical with 
British species. Five additional British genera are re- 
presented, but not by British species; these are Elymus, 
Melica, Spartina, Stipa, Triodia. About a dozen British 
genera do not appear, the most noteworthy among these 
being, perhaps, Brachypodium, Briza, and Cynosurus. 
Two dozen of the genera enumerated are extra-British ; 
the chief ones are Andropogon, Aristida, Bouteloua, 
Buchloé, Danthonia, Muhlenbergia, Paspalum, Sorghum, 
Sporobolus, and Zizania. The so-called buffalo grasses 
are Bouteloua oligostachya, Stipa spartea, and Buchloé 
dactyloides ; the first two may be gathered in quantity by 
any one who travels across the Canadian prairies, but the 
last-named, which is regarded as the true buffalo grass, 
does not extend into Canada. 
In upwards of 100 pages of text we find collected much 
information both of botanical and of agricultural interest. 
The structural and economic characters of each grass 
figured are detailed at some length, but Dr. Vasey has, 
perhaps wisely in a work of this kind, made no attempt at 
classification. Though systematic synonyms are seldom 
given, there is a lavish display of trivial ones, for which 
the agricultural reader, at all events, will be grateful. 
Orthographic blunders are rather numerous, and the 
index might be more complete. The term chartaceous 
(“the texture resembling paper or parchment in thick- 
ness”) is, we believe, not current on this side of the 
Atlantic ; let us hope we may do without it. 
The chemical analyses are of much agricultural interest, 
and readers should compare the results here given with 
those obtained by Wolff in his analyses of German 
grasses. The figures before us serve to show how con- 
siderably the same gramineous species may vary in com- 
position according to the soil and climate in which it is 
grown, this point being specially illustrated by analyses 
of Phleum pratense and Dactylis glomerata, each from 
half a dozen different localities. How variable is the 
composition of gramineous herbage generally is well 
shown in the following table, in which are given the 
highest and lowest percentages of the constituents named, 
obtained in 136 analyses of different species of grasses :— 
Dry substance Highest Lowest 
Ash 19°24 3°57 
Katies Pan wee 5°77 1°48 
Nitrogen free extract 6601 34°01 
Crude fibre... 37°72 17°68 
Albuminoids 23°13 2°80 
