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is indebted to the Gramineous Tribe, for gome favorite articles of dree*.- — 

 The well-known head-dresses, from Leghorn — so highly prized by the 

 Ladies — are manufactured from the straw of a delicate variety of Wheat: 

 and in our own country, many beautiful imitations of Leghorn hats and 

 bonnets have been made from the slender culms of the Grasses, — partic- 

 ularly the Meadow, or Green Grass [Poa pratensit, L. } . In the days of 

 our grandmothers, too, this family of plants, contributed to the decoration 

 of the rustic Fair : for even in those unsophisticated times, decorative appen- 

 dages were not entirely eschewed- A humble substitute for Necklaces of 

 coral, and pearl, was found in the fruit of an Oriental Grass, often seen 

 in the gardens, whose hard and polished involucres are known by the name 

 of Job's Tears [Coix Lachryma, L. ], But it is not only the means of 

 adorning the person, that are to be derived from this source. The fistular 

 stem, or culm of the Grasses — especially of the Oat-plant — appears to 

 have furnished the Shepherds of antiquity with the material for an instru- 

 ment of music ! — as, in VirgiFs first Pastoral, wo find one of these 

 Swains reclining under the shade of a spreading Beech, wooing his rustic 

 muse, and wakening the sylvan cchos, with a slender Oaten Pipe,-*- 

 or, to adopt the language in which he is accosted by Melibceus, — 

 " Silvestrem tenui musam mediiaris Avena." 

 In an Agricultural point of view, the superior value of the Grasses 

 as materials for pasture and hay, is owing to the large quantity of saccha- 

 rine matter with which they abound, about the time of flowering; and 

 which is the source of that rich, sweet odor, observable in well-preserved 

 hay. This saccharine matter, which pervades the whole plant before 

 flowering, and is most perfectly elaborated at that epoch, is designed to be 

 ultimately concentrated and deposited in tho seeds, — chiefly in the form 

 of farina ; and hence we find the herbage of comparatively little value, 

 after the fruit is fully matured. The skilful Agriculturist, therefore, 

 when he wishes to have good hay, cuts his grass at the moment when tho 

 nutritious juices are most perfect — and while they are diffused through- 

 out the plant. But when his main object is the seed, — as in our culti- 

 vated grains, — he of course postpones his harvest until the earetr of veg- 

 etation is finished. It is needless to enlarge on the importance of the 

 herbage of the Grasses, in supplying the food of our domestic animals— 

 and, indirectly, the animal portion of our own food. I will, however, men- 

 tion those species which are deemed of chief value in our meadows arid 

 pastures, — naming them in what I consider the order of their excellence, 

 1. The Meadow, or Green Grass, erroneously called " Blue Grass," in 

 Kentucky [Poa praiensis, L.] — 2. Timothy, or the " Herd's Grass," of 

 Vhe Northern States (Pkleum pratense, L.)-~ 3. Orchard Grass {Dotty- 



