CLASS III. ORDER II.] GRASSES. 69 



their gi'owth, as regards soil or situation. Grasses either in their 

 naturally succulent state, or when dried in the condition of hay, con- 

 stitute the chief support of those animals which man has subjected to 

 his service, as well as those which principally supply him with animal 

 food. Here we observe another of those admirable arrangements of a 

 beneficent Providence, in the distribution of the pastoral gj-asses, which 

 are tilted for the food of so many living creatures, thus becoming an 

 indirect means of administering to the wants of man, in those countries 

 where animal food is wanted to sustain him in health and vigour ; 

 while in tropical latitudes, where less animal food is required, grami- 

 neous vegetables are, as already observed, less numerous, but more 

 stately, and fitted rather to afford shade and protection from the rays 

 of the scorching sun, than as a means of supporting life. 



The importance of glasses in the scale of the creation, might be in- 

 feiTed from the Creator's command — 



" Let the earth 



Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed, 



And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind, 



Whose seed is in herself upon the earth. 



He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then 



Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned, 



Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad 



Her universal face with pleasant green ; 



Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowered, 



Opening their various colours, and made gay 



Her bosom, smelling sweet." Milton. 



Those marked peculiarities which are observable in the attainment of 

 perfection, and the term of existence in vegetables, are equally seen in 

 grasses, i. e. some are annual, arriving at a state of perfection and 

 dying away in the course of a year, as Alopecurxis agrestis, Poa annua, 

 ^•c; others are perennial, arriving at perfection in two or three years, 

 and continue growing to an indefinite period, as Dactylis glomerala, 

 Phleum pratense, ^-c; there are, however, very few species that require 

 a longer period of time than this, before they attain their greatest state 

 of perfection, supposing them to be grown in the soil and situation 

 suited for them ; for ])eculiar grasses grow best, and can only be culti- 

 vated with profit or advantage under those circumstances ; hence, those 

 agriculturists who would cultivate their land with the greatest success, 

 must either choose the grasses suited to the soil, or so alter the nature 

 of the soil by tillage as to render it suitable for the grasses themselves. 

 The circumstance, too, of some grasses coming to a state of perfection 

 in a short time, while others require a much longer period, will have 

 material influence in determining the choice of those species which are 

 wanted either for the alternate husbandry, or for permanent pasturage. 



The immense importance which has in all ages and countries been 

 attached to the growth of corn, as affording what has been emphatically 

 designated " the staff of life," has caused the greatest attention to be 



