IV PBEFACE. 



the arrangement of genera and species. Part tMrd of 

 this work I have followed, as Mr. Flint has done in 

 his valuable treatise, the natural order adopted by 

 Professor Gray, to whose Manual of Botany I refer 

 the student for a specific description of the grasses of 

 jio agricultural value. All grasses having an agri- 

 cultural value have their generic and specific charac- 

 ter given in this work. And lastly I have given suit- 

 able mixtures for various soils. 



Although much has been said and written on the 

 subject of grass culture, there still remains a great 

 work to be accomplished in this important industry. 



Perrennial grasses constituting rich, permanent 

 meadows and pastures are generally acknowledged 

 to be the true basis of the agricultural prosperity of 

 a country, consequently the want of these must be a 

 serious inconvenience and drawback to agricultural 

 communities. What must then be thought of the 

 practice, followed in many sections of the country of 

 making a speciality of growing Timothy, which is a 

 short-lived grass, and aln/ost totally unfit for perma- 

 nent pasture, to the exclusion of other grasses, many 

 of them equaling it for hay crops, but aU surpassing 

 it in permanency of meadow and pasturage. 



If my -humble efiorts will have the eflFect of indu- 

 cing farmers to give mixtures of those valuable 

 grasses a fair trial, which must result in individual 

 wealth and general prosperity, clothing the fields 

 with luxuriant verdure and giving the country an 

 appearance which would betoken enlightened agri- 

 cultural progress, I will not have labored in vain. 



JOHN HENDERSON. 



Northport, L. I., June, 1875. 



