INTRODUCTION. 7 



Lauder Lindsay says it is accounted the pest of the pro- 

 vince. But these are trifling exceptions where the great 

 numbers of the family are so distinctly wholesome and 

 useful. 



Cereals of course take the first place in the grass 

 family, being absolutely necessary to the life of the 

 human race. He who created man in His own image, 

 had already created for him the "green herb" that 

 should form the most important part of his sustenance, 

 and willed that, by using the talents that He had en- 

 dowed him with, he should improve and extend, by 

 cultivation, those nutritious seeds, so as to provide food 

 co-extensively with the increased need of it. Thus we 

 have in the large variety of cereals a mere handful of 

 species, placed by the hand of Providence so as to attract 

 the special notice of man from time immemorial, and 

 now become the daily bread of the great human family. 

 Only second in importance to the cereals stand the agri- 

 cultural grasses, without which we could not keep our 

 flocks and herds, and so must forfeit all the support and 

 service we receive from them. In temperate climates 

 the earth is covered by the greensward, which furnishes 

 such abundance of pasturage and meadow for our troops 

 of cattle. In the tropical climates the sward is absent, 

 but the grasses are there in another form, and though 

 of gigantic size, many of them are so tender and delicate 

 that they are as valuable as our own as fodder for cattle. 

 In New Holland, Kangaroo-grass [Anthistiria australis) 

 affords excellent food for sheep, and the Dharba or Doob 

 of India (Cynodon dactylori) is so valuable as to be the 

 theme of many poems. Mexico rejoices its flocks with the 

 Gama grass, and the Tussac grass of the Falklands is 

 noted for its nutritious qualities. 



