INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC GRASSES. 63 



influence. Grasses are possessed of some chemical 

 property which enables them to dissolve and secrete 

 flint. 



An Indian species of Andropogon affords a stimulat- 

 ing oil very useful with friction in rheumatism. It also 

 yields Indian Vetiver, used in fevers. Another grass, 

 with fragrant roots, obtains the name of Vetiver in 

 Trance and Rhus in India. The Lemon Grass, which 

 yields so sweet a perfume, called the Oil of Verbena, is 

 allied to these. These grass perfumes are very useful 

 to put with linen, to prevent the entrance of insects. 

 The stems of the plants made into fans are accounted 

 very efficacious in driving away flies. 



Duchesne tells us that the flowers of Agrostis Spica- 

 venti give a good yellow-green tint to woollen goods, 

 and that the peasants make nice little brooms of the 

 panicles. 



We have already seen that sugar, beer, and spirits 

 are extracted from various grasses, either their sap or 

 their seed furnishing the quality desired, so we need not 

 revert to those uses. Their application to thatching, 

 their use in packing, in stuffing mattresses and horse- 

 collars, and their employment in the manufacture of 

 mats and matting, and of brooms and brushes, may be 

 mentioned in general without descending to the parti- 

 culars of the way in which the article is employed. 



The use of the Holy Grass (Hierochloe borealis) in 

 decorating churches and being reverenced as an article 

 of devotion in Prussia, Sweden, and Lapland, is rather 

 interesting than industrial, though even this affords em- 

 ployment to the poor, who gather the grass and sell it in 

 the markets. 



A Spanish grass [Lygeum Spartum) is a plant of almost 



