13 



Us ghmerata, L. ] — 4. Meadow Fescue [Festuca pratensis, L. ] — 5„ 

 Blue Grass [Poa compressa, L.~\ — 6. Ray Grass [ Lolium perennc 

 L. ] — 7. Herd's Grass, of Penna. often called " Red Top," — the " Bent 

 Grass," of the English [Agrostis vulgaris, L.] — and 8. Sweet-scented 

 Vernal Grass [ Anthoxanthum odoratum, L. ]. There are a few other 

 Grasses — native, or partially naturalized — to be found on our farms, — 

 and which are more or less eaten by cattle, when the better ones are want- 

 ing: But they are of comparatively little value, — and good farmers are 

 always desirous to supersede them, as soon as possible, by some of those 

 above named. It is remarkable, that all the Grasses, here enumerated, 

 are believed to have been introduced into our country. They are all more 

 or less extensively naturalized ; but some of them require to be regularly 

 sown, to insure a full crop, — and are therefore known as artificial Grass- 

 es. Those generally cultivated, here, are the Timothy, and Orchard 

 Grass, — and occasionally we see the Ray, and Herd's Grass, or Red 

 Top ; — though these last are not so much esteemed. The others are 

 completely naturalized ; and when the soil is either originally fertile, or ad- 

 equately improved, the best of them, — viz. the Meadow Grass, and the 

 Fescue, — soon appear spontaneously in our pastures, and supersede the 

 artificial ones. — Now and then, we hear of attempts to introduce new 

 Grasses to the notice of our Agriculturists, — accompanied by exaggera 

 ted statements of their value ; — such as the Taller Oat-Grass ( Avena 

 elatior, L.) — sometimes called " Grass of the Andes" : and a few years 

 since, one of our coarse indigenous Grasses, called " Sesame ", or " Gama 

 Grass " ( Tripsacum dactyloides, L.), was so extravagantly lauded in the 

 journals, that many lovers of novelties were induced to try the experiment 

 of cultivating it, in place of the old approved plants ; but, like some oth- 

 er "Experiments " that we wot of, in our day it resulted in a total fail- 

 ure.* It is, indeed, exceedingly doubtful, whether any other Grasses are 

 so well adapted to our climate, and our wants, as those old and long-tried 

 acquaintances of our farmers, which I have already enumerated. 



I have thus endeavored to give some idea of the uses, to which the roots, 

 stems, and general herbage of the Grasses, are or may be appropriated, in 

 the Arts, in domestic and Rural Economy ; But it is from the Seeds of 

 the Grass Tribe — with one exception — that we derive the most eminent 

 and immediate advantages. To them we are indebted foi what has been 



*We cannot but remark, says the Botanical Editor of Rees's Cyclopce- 

 dia, what extraordinary celebrity is attached, every now and then, to one 

 grass or other, and how their fame passes away 'like the morning cloud,' 

 while the best graziers scarcely know perhaps, better than their fat cattle, 

 any thing of the nature of the common never-failing herbage, to which 

 they are both so much indebted. Akt. Pajucxjm, 



