52 



long, close and spike-like ; the spikelets are about half an inch long, 

 compressed, crowded on the very short branchlets. 



This grass has no agricultural value, but from time immemorial 

 its utility in binding together the loose sands of the beach and re- 

 straining the inroads of the ocean has been recognized and provided 

 for in some places by law. Mr. Flint, in his work on grasses, says 

 that the town and harbor of Provincetown, once called Cape Cod, 

 where the Pilgrims first landed, one of the largest and most im- 

 portant harbors in the United States, sufficient in depth for ships of 

 largest size, and in extent to anchor three thousand vessels at once, 

 owe their preservation to this grass. The usual way of propagat- 

 ing the grass is by transplanting the roots. The grass is pulled up 

 by hand and placed in a hole about a foot deep and the sand pressed 

 around it by the foot. There are undoubtedly many places on the 

 sea-coast where this grass would be of inestimable value in restrain- 

 ing the encroachment of the ocean. It would also be useful in 

 forming a dense tnrf for the protection of dikes and banks subject 

 to water-washing. 



2. A. brevipilis, Benth. (C. brevipilis, Gr.) New Jersey. 



3. A. Curtissii, Vasey. Florida. 



4. A. longifolia, Benth. (C. longifolia, Hook.) 



This grass, formerly called Calamagrostis longifolia, has recently 

 been transferred by Mr. Bentham to the genae Ammophila. It 

 grows on the sandy plains of the interior from British America to 

 Arizona, and on the borders of the Great Lakes. It has strong 

 running root-stalks, like the preceding, but is much taller, the culms 

 being 3 to 6 feet high, stout and reed-like; the leaves long, rigid, 

 and becoming involute, with a long thread-like point. The panicle 

 is quite variable, from 4 to 16 inches long, at first rather close, but 

 becoming open and spreading, the branches in the smaller forms 

 being 2 or 3 inches long, and in the larger ones often 10 or 12 inches 

 and widely spreading. It is abundant on the plains of "Western 

 Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado, and furnishes 3 resource in winter 

 for food for the cattle of the ranches. 



Aira, Linn. 



Spikelets two-flowered, small, in a loose or rarely contracted pan- 

 icle with capillary branches, the rhachis not produced into a bristle ; 

 outer glumes thinly scarious, nearly equal, acute ; flowering glumes 



