Short on the Botany of Illinois. 
191 
those which are of most frequent occurrence, omitting all 
reference to the allied tribe of Cyperacece , but few of which 
were observed, in consequence, perhaps, of the late season at 
which our visit was made. Among the most predominant of 
the Graminece , on the rich, dry, and rolling prairies are sev¬ 
eral species of Andropogon , as A. furcatum , A. ciliatum , A. 
mutans , A. scoparium , c^c., Aristida tuberculosa , A. stricta , A. 
gracilis , <^c., Elymus Canadensis , (var. glaucifolius.) E. Vir¬ 
ginia us ^ E. mollis , <!yc., Trichodium laxiflorum , and l7//b 
keterolepsis. In flat and marshy situations these give place to 
various species of Panicum , as P. geniculatum , P. agrostoides , 
P. dichotomurn , P. virgatum , P. latifolium , and the universal¬ 
ly diffused P. crus-galli , Leersia Virginica , and L. oryzoid.es. 
Spartina polystachya and $. cynosuroides. All these grasses 
in their young and tender states are eagerly devoured by 
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 Vilfa, before mentioned, 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 pasturage and 
mowing, is much improved by the burning of the prairies du¬ 
ring 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 por¬ 
tions of the prairie from the action of fire until the spring or 
early summer, vegetation is then so much retarded by a date 
burn,’ as the settlers call it, as to afford good pasturage 
throughout the latter part of the season. 
To this action of the fires, which probably for ages have 
annually passed over these plains, consuming in their progress 
