Festuca ovina-Sheep's Fescue;

Dactylis glomerata-Orchard Grass.

These grow in tufts when sown thin, if the land be poor; but it can be prevented by close pasturing, fine harrowing and rolling, which take away all mosses and decaying grasses prejudicial to the formation of a good turf. Rolling presses the whole together and makes the soil firmer, a matter of much consequence in maintaining a fine, close sward.

Aquatic or Water Grasses are those which grow by the margin of rivers, in brooks and ditches or around the edges of ponds. These are not generally of any agricultural value, yet as sometimes seen in open meadows they give indication of a wet or swampy soil, and that draining is needful. Among the more common of these water grasses are,

Arundo phragmites-Common Reed Grass;
Phalaris arundinacea-Reed Canary Grass;
Poa fluitans-Floating Meadow Grass;

Alopecurus geniculatus-Floating Foxtail Grass;
Zizania aquatica-Wild Rice.

Of these, the wild rice is sometimes cultivated at the South, and the floating foxtail in Europe.

Marine Grasses. Under this head come the grasses which inhabit our salt marshes, the contiguity of salt water or marine mud being requisite for their growth. Of these, the following will serve as examples:

Ammophila arundinacea-Beech Grass or mat weed;

Spartina stricta-Salt Marsh Grass;

Poa maritima-Goose Grass;

Juncus bulbosus-Black Grass.

Meadow Grasses. By far the greater number of valuable grasses may be arranged under this head. They are those which supply us chiefly with hay, as also pasturage for cattle. Occurring as these do, over the country, under widely differing circumstances of climate, elevation, soil and modes of farming, an attentive study of them should enable us, upon examination of any district, to arrive at facts regarding the nature and value of any tract of ground with almost as much certainty as though we had long resided upon the soil, and had drawn our conclusions from what is called "practical experience;" and yet, though one may be termed "scientific," and the

other "practical," they are equally the results of observation, and both constitute knowledge of a practical kind. Of these, some of the more common are,

Phleum pratense-Herdsgrass or Timothy;

Agrostis vulgaris—Redtop;

Poa pratensis-June Grass or common Spear Grass;
Dactylis glomerata-Orchard Grass or Cocksfoot;
Alopecurus pratensis-Meadow Foxtail;

Festuca pratensis-Meadow Fescue Grass.

Agrarian or Fallow Grasses are those which occur in land under tillage. They are all weeds and some of them great pests. Among these are,

Agrostis stolonifera-Creeping Bent Grass;

Bromus secalinus-Chess, Cheat, Rye brome grass, Willard's Bromus ;

Bromus mollis-Soft Brome Grass;

Poa trivialis-Rough Meadow Grass;

Poa annua—Annual or Spear Meadow Grass;

Triticum repens-Couch or Twitch Grass.

The latter three are sometimes sown, but appearing often where not wanted, they are very troublesome and difficult to eradicate. The last named is the most so.

In treating of the structure and anatomy of the grasses, it is well to remark at the outset, that they form an exceedingly natural group, and although they have such differences that species can be recognized by careful analysis, they yet have such agreement in common that the most casual observation is usually sufficient to determine one of the family to be a grass," or to enable us to refer it to the Gramineæ as the natural order of plants to which it belongs.

There being then such similarity of parts in species of grasses, and these parts often minute, it follows that in order to understand descriptions so as to enable us to distinguish one species from another, or to analyze them, we must first understand the minute distinctive characters which such parts present. This done, the student may soon know them tolerably well; but otherwise, although he may learn names, it will be only in a traditionary manner and with constant liability to error, according as his informer may be well or ill acquainted with the subject.

A. Fibres; B. Rhizome; C. Culm; D. Node; E. Sheath; F. Ligule; G. Blade; H. Glumes; I. Glumels-Paleæ; J. Pollen; K. Filament; L. Anther; M. Seeds; N. Style; O. Stigma; P. Barren Shoot.

In grasses we meet with the following parts, all of which though tolerably constant in form in individuals of each species, yet in their variations in different species make up the sum of those distinctive characters which enable the botanist to separate one species from another. Such are

The Root, or descending axis, consisting of root fibres and rhizome;

Culm, or ascending axis, consisting of stem with its nodes and joints;

Leaves, the appendages of the axis, consisting of sheath, ligule and lamina;

Flowers, or reproductive organs, consisting of floral envelopes, stamens and pistils;

Seeds, or fruit, consisting of grains of various forms and sizes.

The roots of grasses usually consist of small fibres, which in starting from the seed, burst through the radicle or seed-root like the inner valve of a telescope from the outer; this, which is called by the botanists, endorhizal, from two Greek words signifying, within a sheath, may well be observed in the germination of such large grasses as are presented in the cereals, as corn, wheat, barley, &c. Roots are sometimes hard and wiry, especially in such species as grow in damp and boggy places; whilst in others they are exceedingly flexile, the main roots often creeping great distances in search of food, and then branching off into innumerable fibrils or rootlets, the ends of which, consisting of the newest cells or growth, form the spongioles or suckers by which nutriment is taken from the soil into the plant-system. It is hence necessary in the cultivation of grasses that the soil for the reception of the seed should be of good tilth, and especially that its mechanical consistency should be such that it will not greatly expand in moisture and so push the roots out of place, or crack in drought, in which case the rootlets or active parts in life and increase are broken away just at the period when they are most required. Roots are without buds, from which it will be seen that all the parts of a grass which grow beneath the surface are not always true roots, such for instance as the runners in the common couch or witch grass, (Triticum repens.) These receive the name of Rhizomes, or underground stems, and it is by means of these that the couch tribe of grasses so quickly spread from a com

mon and small centre into large patches; as though they creep for a considerable distance, yet their points ultimately rise to the surface and then expand into new leaves, and in fact form distinct and perfect individuals, which if separated from the parent, all the more rapidly give rise to independent colonies, and indeed these scions do as their parents did before them. Several species of grasses have this tendency, and consequently when it occurs it forms a good distinctive character. Hence, though the Triticum repens has a rhizome, the T. caninum is furnished only with a fibrous root. Some of the Poas, as Poa pratensis and P. compressa, have rhizomes, while Poa annua and P. trivialis are without any. Several species of grass become useful from this very structure, in keeping together banks of sea coast, canals and the like.

Culm-stem. The stems of grasses are usually hollow and rounded, (except in Poa compresa, in which the name has been given from its oval form as though it had been subjected to pressure.)

The stem is separated into long or short lengths called joints, by the intervention of nodes (knots) which are solid, and tend much to strengthen the structure of the plant, to which end they will be found to be closer at the base where the strain would be greatest on account of these light plants swaying forward and backward in the wind, and more remote upwards in the culm, from which are suspended the newer and more active leaves. Stems vary in being smooth, ribbed, armed with hairs which may be long or short, bristly or downy. The nodes again, may be of a different color from the culm, or like it may be smooth or armed in a similar manner. The leaves consist of the following parts:

The sheath-petiole or leaf stalk of other plants;

The ligule or tongue;

The lamina―blade or flat part of the leaf.

The sheath is the footstalk of the leaf. This takes its rise from the nodes, one from each, arranged on alternate sides of the culm. The whole length of the sheath, which is variable, is folded around the culm, from which it can be loosened by unwinding, without fracture, a circumstance which serves to distinguish the grasses from the sedges, (Carex,) as the sheath of the latter is a continuous tube in which the solid and often triangular culm is inserted, not folded. This is a distinctive character of great importance to observe, inas