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or on pedicels— whether the pedicels were long or short, weak or stiff, hori- 
zontal or inclined, cleft in two or single, close together on the stem, or at 
longer or shorter intervals, numerous or few ; in fact, it was noticed that a 
very shght alteration in the arrangement of parts materially affected the 
general appearance of the whole flower. The structure of the seed-vessel 
and of its surrounding envelopes was then described, and it was shown that 
another set of distinctions between different species and varieties was given 
by the adhesion or non-adhesion of these envelopes. For example, the 
adhesion, or otherwise, of the corolla to the grain gave the distinction 
between wheat and barley. The speaker stated that there were about 150 
species of British grasses, but that these were so varied that the grasses 
were usually very easy to discriminate ; it was very fortunate that all the 
forms could be reduced to a simple principle, or type-form, from which a 
great variety were moulded ; and on this account, if on no other, grasses 
were well worthy of study. 
In entering upon the second portion of his subject, the Professor re- 
marked that, out of all the 150 known species of grass, only ten or twelve 
formed the bulk of any good meadow, these being, so to speak, masters of 
the situation. In bad pastures, on the other hand, as many as 50 species 
might occasionally be found, and of these, five or six would be so promi- 
nent as to indicate that nothing was right there, and so also, mutatis 
mutandis, with good pastures. The speaker considered the gradual deteri- 
oration of a pasture to take place somewhat in the following way : — Even 
in the best pieces of land some corner or out-of-the-way spot would pro- 
bably, from dampness, or some other cause, be not as good as the bulk ; 
on this the bad species would be found, and if the farming was not good, 
from neglect of top-dressing, or other reasons, the bad grasses would gra- 
dually begin to spread. Grasses grew together very closely, and yet two 
species could not, of course, occupy the same place at once, and a struggle 
for existence was commenced; in poor ground the bad species obtained 
the mastery, and though a war of extermination was constantly going on, 
such a balance was maintained that the number and kind of species of 
grass growing on any given piece of land, would give, to those who under- 
stood them, such an intimate acquaintance with the nature and properties 
of the land as no other set of circumstances connected with grasses could 
possibly do. In reference to the best mode of turning bad pasture into 
good. Professor Buckman said that he had found it advantageous by prac- 
tical experience, to fold sheep upon it. The poor grass was either eaten or 
trodden down by them, and thus a manure was formed, when, the soil being 
thus improved, the better grasses v^'ouid grow. This tribe contained some 
of the most important plants in the country, even independently of the 
cereal grasses ; a vast amount of man's food—butter, cheese, meat, «&c. 
being indnectly dependent on the pastures. 
The speaker then called the attention of the society to the changes pro- 
duced in grasses by irrigation. He had watched some land, worth about 
