OUR NATIVE GRASSES. 213 



the useful broom-cane; the graceful featheiy plumed 

 grass of the Pampas, waving in the breeze like gently- 

 heaving billows of a silvery shining sea ; the heavy 

 dark-headed bulrush so familiar to the eye; the verdant 

 rice and the purple-topped Indian corn with its silky 

 .tassels and golden fruit — all these, and the coarse grasses 

 that grow on every wild, uncultivated spot, rushes, reeds 

 and sedges — all and every species were classed with 

 the sweet vernal grasses of the meadows and pastures ; 

 from the highest to the lowest, they were all included 

 under the familiar name of Grass. 



The rich variety and abundance of the native grasses 

 of the western and north-western prairies of this great 

 American continent form one of its most attractive 

 features — great waving oceans of verdure where the 

 bison once fed, but which are now yielding to the plow 

 of the settler. Man by his reckless greed has driven off 

 and well-nigh exterminated the bison (Indian buffalo) 

 from the plains of Manitoba and the Saskatchewan, 

 and the wild grasses of the prairie are also destined to 

 disappear with the wild herds which fed upon them. 



It is a singular fact that among all the many varieties 

 of the prairie grasses there are no true grain-bearing 

 cereals to be found, none producing seed sufficiently 

 nutritive for the support of man. Although many of 

 the grasses. resemble oats, wheat, barley and maize, there 

 seems to be in the substance they produce an absence of 

 the qualities required to make bread. 

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