// 
-7- 
11 ^ 
1^' 
sponges, 96TOfe from/ com. Your umbrella h^andle and fountain pen may be 
mad© fro/ co3\n p6bs. ii^id^^of cdurs/'ooim r^^-^Te sources of aLcchol, 
Besides all tiiis.grasses have built up arable land from freshwater 
^ and tidal marshes. On mud flats and tidal estuaries such as those 
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Chesapeake Bay, and San Francisco Bay^ 
different species of Spartina are holding the coast and building up 
dry land. Biese grasses thriTe in the soft imid submerged at high tide/ 
their stout rhizomes foimi\4s a firm network: ever pushing seaward* 
■ In the Knglish Gh8,nnel and on the coast of liolland miles of land are 
thus being formed. In Holland the plants are set outuin rows at right 
mRles to the shore in the mudflats outside the dykes. The shallow 
^uyder Zee has long been filling u-^-by this means and -ill be ready , 
for settip^m^nt before mam^ yQars*-, 
'fo imny people grass in anything that cattle will graze or that 
ill make a lawn, ann they thinlc clovers and alfalfa are grass-- but they 
Wli 
are not. The true grasses form a distinct and well marked family, 
highly speci6lized relatives of tlie lily. 'Ihey have be-n so successful 
in the struggle fo:c existence that they are one of the three largest 
plant families and exceed all others in liie number of individuals. 
Grasses are fpnnd froa seashore to the Units of eternal snow, from 
desert to tropical marshes and forests. Grasses as a whole are sun- 
worshippers. They love open country. Those that grow in dense forests, 
keep to the trails or occupy open spots where trees have fallen^ or they 
climb till they reach the sunlight, then fall like lacy green curtains 
from the tree topss [iirthrostylidium] 
The beauty of grasses is something most people are blind to (Show 
specimens) 
