OF GRASSES 



From spring until late autumn grasses bloom by every way- 

 side, and in field and meadow form the green carpet of the earth. 

 Widely distributed throughout all countries, and abundant even 

 in far-away prehistoric days, they still remain the most important 

 family of the vegetable kingdom, and — of all common plants the 

 most common — the least commonly known. Yet from the 

 moment when the first violet lifts its blossom to the sunlight until 

 in autumn the witchhazel's delicate flowers are seen above fast- 

 falling leaves, there is never a day when grasses are not in bloom, 

 and never a week in summer when a score of different species may 

 not be gathered. 



In richness and variety of colouring, above their undertone of 

 green, the blossoms and wind-blown anthers of the grasses rival in 

 beauty the flowers that the wayfaring man collects. The grace 

 of swaying stem and drooping leaf, the delicacy of tiny flowers 

 tinged in rose and purple, and the infinite variety shown in form 

 and colouring are lost upon those who are intent on seeking flowers 

 that the forests make rare. Grasses there are, stout and higher 

 than one's head, and grasses so slender that their dying stems 

 among wayside weeds are like threads of gold; grasses whose 

 panicles of bloom are more than half a yard in length, and of a 

 colour which only a midsummer sun can bum into August fields; 

 grasses so stiff that winter's snow leaves them unbroken, and 

 grasses so tiny that their highest flower is raised but a few inches 

 from the soil. 



Nearly one thousand species are found in the United States, 

 nor is the study of these plants so difficult as it is thought to be. 

 When accuracy in determining the individual species is desired, a 

 small microscope and a few needles for dissecting the blossoms are 

 all that is necessary. Even without these aids an intimate ac- 

 quaintance with the grasses may be gained by observing only their 

 most obvious characteristics of growth, and the various forms of 

 flowering heads. Notice closely the grasses in a low meadow of 

 early summer: the dense growth of green, hastily characterized as 



