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The world’s biggest crop is grass. Not only 
does it cover more than a fifth of the land sur- 
face of the globe, but it is the most widely dis- 
tributed of all plants. It grows in hot deserts, 
inside the Arctic Circle, and in all climates and 
zones between. Grass is a land builder. It 
converts great stretches of marsh and tidal flats 
into productive meadowland in the coastal areas; 
it helps to create the rich black soils of the 
prairies. Grass affords protection from floods, 
guards the water supply of our cities, furnishes 
our great cereal crops, and supplies the forage 
for livestock. Of all the families of plants, 
grass is the one most essential to man’s existence. 
“All flesh is grass,’ Isaiah says in the Bible. 
Thus the philosophers of ancient times, too, 
recognized the importance of grass. 
SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE 
U! Ss. Departement of Agriculture 
Issued January 1954 
