GRASS. 
191 
which, according to Professor Lindley, amount to 291 genera, 
containing 3,800 (?)* species. 
But this will appear in a still stronger light when we consider 
that, after all, the fame of the English pastures rests upon 
about 20 genera, including no more than 40 species, and that, 
even of these, probably all but about a dozen would be better 
out of the pasture than in it. In concluding this part of our 
subject, however, we would not have it supposed that grasses 
only are useful in the meadow, for it is well known that several 
herbs, and more especially the clovers, are highly valuable as 
part of a pasture; indeed, so much so, as to be called by the 
farmer “ artificial grasses/-’ a term which, after all, seems to 
imply a secondary position compared with the real Graminacece 
which, though so few in species, are yet the plants which so 
much charm the admirer of English rural scenery, and are at 
the same time of such great economic value. 
3. Habits op Grasses. — We have just seen how few of this 
tribe of plants occupy the meadow as pasturage, and, indeed, 
these are not exclusively meadow-plants, for their habits are so 
varied as to fit them for almost every situation. Thus we 
have — 
Jungle or Bush Grasses, Bocky Places, &c. 
Aquatic, or Water Grasses 
Marine, or Sea-side and Salt Marsh Grasses 
Meadow, or Pasture, or Herbage Grasses . 
Agrarian, Fallow, or Weed Grasses! 
about 
?3 
?? 
JJ 
Species. 
40 
10 
14 
35 
23 
Now, if we estimate the number of grasses of the meadow 
kinds at about twenty species, we shall find that such disorders 
in the pasture as want of drainage, will introduce a number of 
the aquatic kinds, whilst a pasture being allowed to run wild 
will also give rise to a quantity of the jungle forms, which 
gradually become a part of what can only be considered as 
rough wild herbage. 
Again, if we divide meadows according to their quality, we 
shall find that they contain different species, in very varying 
proportions, for which see the following table : — 
* This note of interrogation is employed by Professor Lindley in “ The 
Vegetable Kingdom.” We must, therefore, take these figures as merely 
approximate. 
t These numbers are derived from an allocation of the species figured in 
“ English Botany.” 
