ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
11 
md timothy the best hay grass. But the foundation of all pasture was the blue grass, 
iometimes called English blue grass, but in reality indigenous all over the United 
States. He urged a great variety of grasses in pasture, in order that it might be good 
it all seasons. 
It is evident in our minds that Mr. Perriam meant when all grass would not make 
lesh that it was when it was grown upon cold, sour, moldy land. 
On December 9 I received the following per postal card from the Hon. L. W. 
Lawrence: 
M Dear Sir :—Ill health is my excuse for not answering yours. I can only say 
hat after trying everything, 1 have fallen back on clover and timothy for rotation, 
md blue grass for permanent pasture.” 
THE GRASSES. 
BY PROF. W. J. BURDICK, LAKE MILLS, WIS. 
A very brief glance at the vegetable kingdom will convince us of the vast import- 
mce of the grasses to the whole family of man. A more minute and careful survey 
)f this great held of observation will make us wonder that the agricultural world has 
)een content for so many generations to remain in so much ignorance of their nature 
ind properties. All of us without exception derive a great deal of pleasure from con- 
emplating the beauty of the grass; u a thing of beauty ” it “is a joy forever.” It 
exhilarates alike the prince and the peasant, the poet and the philosopher, the mer- 
hant and the mechanic, and cheers and gladdens all classes and conditions of men. 
Destroy the rich meadows and pastures of our farms, and how much of the pleasure 
is well as of the protit of the farmer’s life would be blasted! Remove the little green 
, r rass plat from the contracted yard of a citizen, and how much the enjoyment of his 
iomestic life would be narrowed! When the prophet Isaiah would express the very 
extremity of desolation he exclaimed, “ The grass faileth; there is no green thing! ” 
While the grasses gratify the vision of all classes of mankind their greatest charms 
ire reserved for those who study them most persistently, and who observe with care- 
all scrutiny all the minute details of their organization. These alone can appreciate 
;he exquisite grace and harmony of their forms and motions, and the wonderful adap- - 
nations of their structure to the emergencies of their position, and to the welfare of 
nan. These alone can descry the marvelous uniformity of their plan exhibited in the 
videst diversity of structure which attests the touch of the Divine hand in their 
irganization compelling them reverently to adopt the grateful exclamation of the 
isalmist: “ Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom hast thou made them 
ill; the whole earth is full of thy riches.” 
The latest and most certain conclusions of science coincide with the Apostle’s 
statement that “ all flesh is grass.” They demonstrate, most conclusively, that in this 
saying he yields to no mere poetic fancy, but gives utterance to a sober and unvar¬ 
nished fact. The elegant contour of the human form—the ear that drinks in the 
nelody of song, the tongue that expresses the utterances of the soul, the sparkling 
iye, the ruby lip, and every portion of our material form, views its origin either medi- 
itely or immediately in the grasses of the field. It is their function to gather and 
iombine the scattered elements of inorganic matter in such proportions and forms as 
ire best calculated to build up all the tissues which are essential for the manifestations 
if animal life. They extract saline ingredients from the rocks, hydrogen and oxygen 
:rom the rains and dews, carbon and nitrogen, from the soil and atmosphere, and 
singling these together by a subtle and mysterious chemistry which man can never 
imitate, they lay their treasures at his feet in a form exactly fitted for his purpose. 
Uery precious is the promise of the Infinite, “ I will send grass into thy field for thy 
nattle that thou mayest eat and be full.” 
Notice the wide diffusion of grasses. While the fig, the orange, the bread-fruit 
tree, the vine and most of the other productions of the vegetable kingdom are restricted 
to their belts of latitude, the grasses flourish in every region of the earth. They spring 
up spontaneously on the plain, on the mountain, and in the valleys by the water- 
30urses. They unfold their graceful panicles beneath the dull leaden skies of the 
arctic region, they adorn the temperate zones with their refreshing verdure, while 
beneath the ardent skies of torrid climes their culms swell out into almost gigantic 
proportions, vying in some of their varieties with the trees of a more northern region. 
Their leaves and culms furnish food for cattle; the seeds of inferior species furnish 
food for birds, while those of superior species furnish nutriment for man hiniself. The 
importance of the grasses is shown in the relation which they bear numerically to the 
total vegetation of the earth. At least one-sixth of the plants that grow upon our 
planet belong to this family. Two hundred and thirty genera embracing six thousand 
distinct species are known to botanists, and new genera and species are constantly 
revealed to us by the reports of travelers and the researches of domestic observers. 
