278 



THAT'S IT; 



derable length of their stems, 

 like the common millet grass, 9 ; 

 others have their spikes pendent 



7 8 



at the extremities of divided 

 culms or stems, as the broad- 

 leaved cotton grass, 10 ; the spike- 



9 10 



700. 



lets of some are scaly, and nod 

 in the air like fairy bells, as in 

 quaking grass, 11, and in the 

 sea-side oat grass, 12. 



n 12 



701. 



Grasses are Nature's care. With these she 

 clothes the earth— with these she sustains its 

 inhabitants. Cattle feed upon their leaves- 

 birds upon their smaller seeds— men upon the 

 larger ; for few readers need be told that the 

 plants which produce our bread corn belong to 

 this class. In those tribes which are more 

 generally considered as grasses, their extra- 

 ordinary means and powers of preservation 

 and increase, their hardiness, their almost un- 

 conquerable disposition to spread, their facul- 

 ties of reviviscence, coincide with the intention 

 of Nature concerning them. They thrive under 



a treatment by which other plants are destroyed. 

 The more their leaves are consumed, the more 

 their roots increase. The more they are 

 trampled upon, the thicker they grow. Many 

 of the seemingly dry and dead leaves of grasses 

 revive, and renew their verdure in the spring. 

 In lofty mountains, where the summer heats 

 are not sufficient to ripen the seeds, grasses 

 abound which are viviparous, and consequently 

 able to propagate themselves without seed. It 

 is an observation likewise which has often been 

 made, that herbivorous animals attach them- 

 selves to the leaves of grasses, and, if at liberty 

 in their pastures to range and choose, leave 

 untouched the straws which support the flowers. 

 Many grasses, whose leaves are so dry and 

 withered that the plants appear dead, revive 

 and renew their existence in the spring, ty 

 pushing forth new leaves from the bosom of 

 the former ones.* 



Oats, 13, exhibit several va- 

 rieties ; some kinds have the 

 panicle very slender and dif- 

 fused, others have shorter and 

 closer heads. The Tartarian oat, 

 13, has all its seeds on the same 

 side of the stem, while in another 

 description, the potatoe oat, the 

 seed branches spread equally on 

 all sides. While the ears are yet 

 yo-ung, the branches are erect ; 

 but as the seeds enlarge and 

 ripen, they assume a drooping 



* Puley's Natural Theology. 



