OUR NATIVE GRASSES. 



" And the blithe grass blades that stand straight up 

 And make themselves small, to leave room for all 

 The nameless blossoms that nestle between 

 Their sheltering stems in the herbage green ; 

 Sharp little soldiers, trusty and true, 

 Side by side in good order due ; 

 Arms straight down, and heads forward set, 

 And saucily-pointed bayonet, 

 Up the hillocks, and down again, 

 The green grass marches into the plain, 

 If only a light wind over the land 

 Whispers the welcome word of command." 



— Lord Lytton. 



Modern botanists have separated the old natural order 

 of the grasses into three distinct divisions — the grass 

 proper, Graminece; the sedges, Cyperacece; the rushes, 

 Jmicacece. But" my knowledge of them is according to 

 the old school, which included all in one great order. 

 The stately, gigantic bamboo of the tropics ; the sugar- 

 cane, the flexible cane-brake of the southern swamps; 



