THE GARDEN OF THE WORLD 
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the sand and earth from one place to another. 
Larger plants, like trees, could not grow because 
the soil would not stay in one place long enough. 
Grass roots hold the soil in one place. They 
also keep rain from washing it away. 
In the second place, grasses are the most im¬ 
portant food materials in the whole world. 
Farm animals—horses, cows, sheep—live on 
grass. Dried grass, in the form of hay, supplies 
them with food all winter. Grasses supply man 
with most of his food. Corn, wheat, rye, bar¬ 
ley, rice, and oats are all grasses. All of these 
plants, except corn, have been grown to feed 
men since long before history was written. In 
Bible times the raising of wheat was an old pro¬ 
fession. In China and India the people live 
almost entirely on rice and have done so for 
thousands of years. White men did not have 
corn till America was discovered, but the 
Indians had probably eaten it for hundreds of 
years before that time. 
Sugar cane is another grass. How we should 
miss its sweetness if it should suddenly vanish 
from the earth. 
Corn is one 
of the grasses 
