Margaret Plues

“ A grass is the simplest form of a perfect plant. From a fibrous root a slender stem shoots up, clothed with alternate leaves, which are long and narrow, and have the veins running side by side from one end to the other. ”

“ Thus we find grasses most important to man and beast, and, though humble in name, distinguished in beauty and grace, varying but slightly in general characteristics, and therefore easy to study, changing little by time, and so easy to preserve. Dear public, deign to look upon modest worth; take a little pains and trouble, and let our Grasses have a fair share of attention. ”

“ In the true grasses the stems are round and hollow, and the sheaths of the leaves open at one side; but in their cousins the sedges, the stems are solid and angular, and the leaf-sheaths form perfect cylinders. The highest leaf on the stem of the grass acts as a cradle for the buds until they are sufficiently formed to emerge to the open day. In the sedges the male and female parts of the flower, that is, the stamens and pistils, are on separate spikes, or, at any rate, in separate florets. Both sedges and grasses have three stamens, and most of them two pistils. ”

“ It produces a very large crop, one acre affording from thirty to sixty bushels. Rice flourishes best on low lands where the moisture is abundant.
Noble as is the stature of the Pampas and Tussac grasses, they are out-done by the lord of grasses, the Sugar-cane,—handsome plants attaining a height of sometimes twenty feet. The stem is divided by the joints with which we are familiar, and from each of which sprouts a long narrow leaf. The florets are feathery, like those of our reeds. ”

“ In the early summer, our woods and meadows are feathered by numerous flowering grasses, which form objects of great interest to the botanist and the artist. Yet comparatively few avail themselves of the great pleasure which these elegant plants offer. ”

“ Of the wide-spread uses of the Cereal grasses we hardly need to speak. From the time of the Exodus, wheat has furnished the staff of life to man, and received frequent mention in the history of all temperate climates, affording to the inhabitants of such countries the most reliable article of food. ”

“ Their past history is more important than their present one; they supplied the paper of the Egyptians, the ark of Moses, and the boats of Abyssinia; now their qualties are chiefly celebrated by the Waterhen and Sedge Warbler, excepting when a tasteful hand groups them with flowers and grasses for the decoration of a sitting-room. ”

“ Barley was much more universally used in ancient times than it is now. It is valuable as being able to bear great extremes of temperature. In hot countries two crops are grown in one year. On the Continent it is still much used for bread, but we prefer it as malt. ”