152 



SCIENCE. 



I'S. S. Vol. ir. No. 32. 



of this investigation, no matter bow much 

 it costs, even an appi'opriation of iifty times 

 the amount carried by the bill, could be 

 profitable expended, if one grass can be ob- 

 tained of utility to man that Mdll flourish 

 as those worthless plants flourish in that 

 dry arid region." 



The division has now in preparation a 

 poi^ular work on the grasses and fodder 

 plants of the country, designed chiefly as a 

 ready reference book for the use of farmers, 

 and also a more elaborate and fully illus- 

 trated hand-book of the grasses of ISTorth 

 America. The former M'ork will be com- 

 pleted within a year, while the latter, ow- 

 ing to the time required in preparing and 

 executing the illustrations, can not be com- 

 pleted at so early a date. Much time is 

 occupied in the ofi&ce in identifying grasses 

 sent in by collectors and correspondents, 

 and parties are now in the field, working 

 under the direction of the Chief of the 

 Division, collecting grass seeds, live roots 

 of grasses and forage plants and herbarium 

 specimens, both in the Eocky mountain 

 region and in the Gulf region of the South- 

 ern States. Special attention ■will be given 

 the present season to the sand binders of 

 the Atlantic coast, and to the grasses and 

 other fodder plants which enter into the 

 composition of the hay of the tide-M'ater 

 marshes along the Middle and New Eng- 

 land States. This subject, while apparently 

 of local importance, is one of considerable 

 general interest and of much value, as any 

 one who has visited our coasts can not fail 

 to recognize. The agents in the West have 

 been directed to collect in considerable 

 quantity the seeds of all the more promis- 

 ing grasses of the rich grass flora of the 

 Rocky mountain region, with a view of 

 testing the several species under cultiva- 

 tion, particular attention being given to 

 those kinds which appear to thrive and 

 make vigorous growth under the most trj'- 

 ino; conditions of the arid climates. 



The study of living plants and obser^dng 

 their habits of growth, whether in their na- 

 tive station or under cultivation, is abso- 

 lutely essential to their proper investigation, 

 and to meet this requirement the Secretarjr 

 has established a grass garden iipon the De- 

 partment grounds, in which already some 

 400 different varieties of grasses and forage 

 plants are now growing. Owing to the 

 limited area of this garden, the plots as- 

 signed to each species are necessarily small, 

 but thej' are sufficient to test the possibility 

 of the growth of the several kinds in this 

 latitude, and to show very well the j)eculiar 

 nature of each species. It has been the en- 

 deavor to have in this garden illustrative 

 living samples of all the various haj^ and 

 fodder jjlants and all grasses advertised by 

 different seedsmen, and to bring together 

 in it all the native grasses which it may be 

 possible to secure. A larger garden, of sev- 

 eral acres in extent, has been established 

 in one of the Southern States, where the 

 native grasses peculiar to these States are 

 being tested, and where a considerable area 

 is given to the cultivation of the more 

 promising fodder plants believed to be best 

 adapted to our southern latitudes, both for 

 the purpose of giving these plants a test of 

 a more practical character, such as they 

 would be likelj' to receive in general cul- 

 ture, and to secure seeds for distribution in 

 cases where such a distribution seems to be 

 desirable. F. Lamson Sceibner. 



Division of Agrostology, 



Department of Ageicultuee. 



PHOTOTOPOGBAPEY. 

 Photographs obtained on vertical^ ex- 

 posed plates, using a camera with constant 

 focal length and a lens ground especially 

 with a view towards reducing astigmatic 

 and chromatic aberrations to a minimum, 

 giving uniformit}' in definition and depth 

 over a fiat field, may be regarded as geo- 

 metrically true perspectives. 



