4 . 
After enumerating the principal speci-s of Gramineae, Fr. Snort 
adds: "All these grasses, in their young and tender states, are 
eagerly devoured oy cattle. As they become harder and less succulent 
by age the coarser are rejected, and the more tender are sought for. 
Among these, I believe, the v ilfa is a general favorite, both for 
grazing and for hay. All of them, however, are cut promiscuously for 
this purpose, and when they occur, as frequently they do, in large 
natural meadows, occupying the ground to the almost entire exclusion 
of other vegetables, they yield a productive return to the labor of the 
mower; and when well cured make excellent hay. Our horses, which 
had never before been accustomed to any other than the cultivated 
grasses, ate this natural hay with great avidity. The quality of these 
grasses, both for pasture and mowing, is much improved by the burning 
of the prairies during the winter, which, destroying the dead and 
dry stems, affords a better and earlier bite in the spring, as well 
as a cleaner swath for the scythe; and by protecting certain portions 
of the prairie from the action of fire until the spring or early summer 
vegetation is then so much retarded by a late bum, as the settlers call 
it, as to afford good pasturage throughout the latter part of the 
season." 
To Dr. S. B. kead, of Augusta, Hancock county, I am indebted for 
a catalogue of plants growing in that vicinity, and also for very 
numerous specimens. He has probably devoted more time and labor to 
the examination of Illinois plants than any other botanist, and his 
collections now form part of most of the principal herbaria of the 
w o rl d. 
To Dr. George Engelmann I am, also, much indebted for a list 
of the plants found in the southern part of the state, mostly opposite 
St. Louis. His accurate knowledge of the plants of this country is 
well known, and will give confidence to any statements that rest upon 
his authority. 
