The JVatural History of British Grasses. 
463 
But however much a knowledge of tlils useful tribe of plants 
may have been desired by the agricultural inquirer, yet he 
has been mostly repelled from its pursuit by the difficulties 
ever attendant upon distinguishing genera and species of large 
vegetable families, without which little progress can be made ; 
and this is the more felt, the more natural the grouj)s and the 
closer their affinities, and more especially so in the grasses, as 
the whole tribe is a highly natural one, the same principles of 
structure prevailing in all ; so that distinctive characters have to 
be sought for in the differences presented by minute details : the 
more obvious parts, as leaves, have the same uniform type in all 
the species — they may be longer, narrower, broader, smooth, 
rough, hairy, and the like, but they have ever the same general 
outline ; but if we compare the leaves of another family of plants, 
as, for example, the Leguminosce — also a very natural group — 
these show at a glance the broad distinctive characters of hi foliate, 
trifoliate, pinnate, and others, all of which point to differences 
readily apjirehcnded by even the most casual observation in the 
field, and, as a consequence, greatly lessen the labour of studying 
descriptions in the different botanical and agricultural works 
devoted to them. 
But again, the facts above glanced at show that it is almost 
impossible to study the grasses with that celerity requisite to 
engage the attention of the non-botanical inquirer without en- 
gravings of many of the species ; and this, in the form in which 
it has hitherto been done, renders works upon them too expensive 
for general use, and even when obtained they will be found rather 
to present botanical than agricultural matter ; these, however, 
have to a considerable extent been admirably combined in 
Sinclaii's ' Graminea Woburnensis.' But as in the present day 
additional knowledge has been obtained upon grasses, the com- 
bined results of experiments and observations by the cultivator, 
the chemist, and the botanist, it seems desirable to claim atten- 
tion for some papers upon the subject in a Journal which comes 
the more immediately before the eye of the intelligent farmer; 
and in the accomplishment of this object it is intended to offer a 
series of notices having reference to the following subjects : — 
1. General observations on the Natural History of Grasses. 
2. The Structure and Anatomy of Grasses, and the Classifica- 
tion founded thereon. 
3. Descriptions of Genera and Species, with notices of their 
qualities and distribution. 
1. General Observations on the Natural History of the British 
Grasses. — Grasses, as they appear over the surface of the globe, 
naturally divide themselves into two sections — Cereal or culti- 
vated corn-grasses, and Natural or wild grasses. 
2 H 2 
