220 



o one hundred and forty. In the state of Ohio we have col- 

 lected one hundred and twenty-five different species of grasses 

 found growing in greater or less abundance. 



What are some of the peculiarities of the plants of this fam- 

 ily? One of the most important is its social habit, and this is one 

 of the things that makes it so valuable as a forage plant. There 

 is no plant that has the same social, aggressive habit. The 

 grasses will grow better apparently when they are crowded 

 somewhat together, than they will when they are scattered. In 

 our experimental work, that is one point that has been made 

 very clear. In testing many different varieties we have found 

 this to be the fact, that you can mix a variety of grass seed 

 and that each one of several varieties that might be named will 

 give just as large a product when they are grown together, as 

 each one would if grown on the same area separately. That is 

 on account of the social habit of the plant. It seems to thrive 

 better in company, and that explains why we have the beautiful 

 lawns and well sodded meadows and pastures that we have. 



Another interesting thing: We have one other family of 

 plants that is somewhat closely allied to the grasses and is often 

 mistaken for them and those are known as sedges, and I want 

 to tell you how you can very easily distinguish a grass from a 

 sedge. 



The main characteristics of all the members of the grass 

 family are these : In the first place the stems of the plants are 

 either hollow or pithy. You never saw a grass that had 

 what we call a solid stem. They are either hollow like straws, 

 or like corn stalks, they have a distinct pith. That is one of the 

 characteristics. Then, when you take a section of the stem of any 

 one of the grass family, you will find that it is circular, you can 

 roll it between the thumb and finger. With one or two excep- 

 tions this is a characteristic with every one of the species of the 

 family. Also you will find the stem divided by what we call 

 joints, or nodes. These are simply circular partitions extending 

 through the stem, where it is hollow and giving it strength. 

 You will find the greatest number of these nodes or joints 



