1865.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
79 
niglily recommended by some who have had 
experience in this matter, is to construct regular 
“ flasks,” or moulds, made, sa}' 3 feet long, 14 
inches high, as wide as the wall is thick, and 
made to take apart easily. In these the concrete 
is placed, and when it has set, the flasks are re¬ 
moved, and after a few days, these artificial 
stones become sufficiently firm to be handled, 
when they are laid in the wall, in mortar, ex¬ 
actly like hewn stones. One advantage claimed 
for this method is, that the work may go on 
during storms or rainy weather, as well as at 
any other time, for it is done under sheds. Other 
advantages are, that the walls are evener, and 
that they may have more the appearance of 
stone work—which is perhaps no recommen¬ 
dation. The blocks may be formed round a 
“core,” or cores, and thus the benefits of a 
hollow wall secured, possessing the advantage 
of flues for ventilation, and chimney flues, in 
any part of the house. These, however, are 
easily provided in the common way of mak¬ 
ing the concrete wall, at the time it is laid. 
Yet another method is to lay up stone or brick 
“ piers,” at the corners at least, and perhaps at 
other points in the wall if it have a great 
length. Between the piers the wall is laid of 
concrete, the boards, or “ curbing,” being kept 
in place by the piers, so that the irregularities 
incident to careless work, when no piers are 
built, are avoided. The use of the blocks of 
concrete above described, instead of stone or 
brick, to lay piers, has been recommended, and 
would, doubtless, be an excellent and very con¬ 
venientway to secure perpendicular corners and 
regular walls, without the use of stone or brick. 
We are inclined to commend this idea, for, if 
properly carried out, it will enable one to finish 
the wall very roughly, while the corners and 
piers are smooth, the effect of which is veiy 
agreeable, and the false look of stucco, blocked 
off to represent hewn stone, is avoided. No 
matter how simple or elaborate the structure, 
any flilse representation is a fault. Wood should 
be wood, and nothing else, and stone, stone. 
When we represent stone work by wood, the 
appearance may be good at a distance, but the 
near view reveals the fraud. It is only the con¬ 
stant employment of these architectural frauds 
that leads us to tolerate them. In another 
article, we purpose to consider the best way to 
make the “ curbing,” how to keep it in place, and 
how to make an even, regular, substantial wall. 
Talks About Grass.11. 
(Continued from page 45.) 
In an article in last month’s Agriculturist, we 
gave a description of the general structnre of 
the flowers of grass, and took those of Timothy 
and Red-top for illustration, they being of the 
most simple character. 
As it is designed to 
make these articles 
practical, as well as 
partly botanical in 
their character, no 
particular order will 
be followed, but we 
shall notice first those 
about which most in¬ 
quiry is made, and en- 
Aeavor to give such 
Jescriptions, divested 
*f such technicalities, 
as far as the nature of the subject will admit, 
as will enable one to recognize the species, 
and also some notes on their uses and culture. 
and stout stems, which grow about three feet 
high, and even five in rich soil. The stems, where 
the grass does not grow very thickly, are often 
bent at the base towards the ground, aud then 
rise perpendicularly. The leaves are from 6 to 
18 inches long, broad, and rough on both sides. 
The panicle or flower cluster is of a bluish 
green, often tinged with purple, and somewhat 
one-sided. The general appearance of the plant 
is given in the engraving, wdiere, to economize 
space, the stem is cut off and doubled up. In 
order to describe the structure of the flowers, 
we must employ the terms defined in the first 
article, and, to aid the description, the spike- 
let of Red-top used there is reproduced here. 
It will be recollected that the parts, a, b, Fig. 
3, are glumes. What is within these constitute 
the floret, which is made up of the two paleae, c, 
d, and the stamens and pistil which they enclose. 
By comparing this figure of the Red-top with 
that of the Orchard grass, fig. 6, the difference 
will, at first, appear greater than it will really be 
fomid to be after a careful examination. We 
have, in the flower of the Orchard grass, the 
pair of glumes at the base of the spikelet, cor¬ 
responding to a, b, of fig. 3, and inside of them, 
instead of a single floret, there are three, placed 
upon opposite sides of a short stem within the 
glumes. Each of these florets, as in case of 
Red-top, consists of the palese which are shown 
here as nearly closed together. The lower 
palea has rough hairs upon the back, and ter¬ 
minates at the apex in a short, bristle-like point. 
With a magnifier, five lines, or nerves, may be 
seen upon the lower palea. Sometimes the 
spikelets, instead of being three-flowered, as 
shown in the engraving, have four flowers or 
florets. We have been thus minute in the 
description of the structure of the flowers of 
these two grasses, as they serve as types of tyrp 
divisions of grasses. The Red-top being an 
example of the general structure of the one- 
flovjered grass, or those with one floret within 
the glumes, while the Orchard grass serves to 
illustrate the many-fbwered species, or those 
of which the glumes enclose two or more flowers. 
The generic name Dactylis, is from the Greek, 
meaning a finger’s breadth, and is supposed tf> 
refer to the size of the clusters of spikelets, and 
glomerata, its specific name, describes the manner 
in which the spikelets are glomerated, or cjow fl¬ 
ed together in little bunches. This grass is a 
native of Europe, aud was early introduced into 
cultivation in this 
country. There is 
perhaps no grass 
concerning the value 
of which such wide- 
1^'^ varying opinions 
have been entertain¬ 
ed, a diversity which 
is owing in good part 
to the fiict that the 
grass takes on a 
quite different char¬ 
acter according as 
it grows thickly or 
thinly. The experi¬ 
ence of one of our editors has been quite in 
its favor, but the remarks concerning its cul¬ 
ture must be deferred until another month. 
Kentucky Blue Grass.—Green Meadow 
Grass.—June Grass. — Poa pratensis. —That this 
grass should have received several popular 
names, shows that it is widely known, and also 
serves to indicate the fiict, which botanists have 
long recognized, that it is a species so changed 
in general appearance, by soil and situation, 
that the grass growing in one locality is regard¬ 
ed as a distinct species from the same thing 
growing in another. Indeed, botanists, who are 
supposed to be more accurate than ordinary 
observers, and to be able to give a reason for 
their views, have called the same thing by half 
Fig. 6.—orchard grass. 
