Grasses 15] 
loss of the humble plants, constantly trodden 
under foot of man, and chiefly valued for their 
utility as fodder. 
In fact, as Mrs. Stowe wrote in one of her 
Florida letters, ‘‘You never realize what grass is— 
till you have to do without it.’ 
But in temperate regions grasses give character 
to the whole landscape. They foster the wild life 
of the fields, forming sheltering bowers in which 
small animals hide from their enemies, and ground- 
nesting birds rear their broods. 
Grasses are the basis of a large proportion of 
the higher life of the globe, for no family of 
plants equals them in usefulness as food for man 
and beast. They give us corn, oats, wheat, 
barley, rye, rice, and sugar. Our bread comes 
directly from grasses, and, as they feed the flocks 
and herds, our milk, cheese, butter, meat, and 
leather come from them indirectly. 
So they enter into close business relations with 
the farmer, the stock-raiser, the miller, the baker, 
the shoemaker, the saddler, and the exporter. 
After the grain has been gathered, the stems 
which upbore it are peculiarly adapted for use in 
many industries. And, lastly, the grasses are 
doing, slowly and continuously, what the world’s 
