San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-09-14
The Study Of Grasses.

Next to the study Of ferns, perhap.
that of grasses has Of late years beer
most popular. Their graceful shapes
variety Of species and abundance render
them attractive objects to the young
botanical student. They carpet our
English meadows, and give them tina,
characteristic greenery which is so viz.
idly remembered when one is far away
from them. The cattle upon thousand
hills browse upon their succulent and
nutritious foliage. The Larvae of innu.
merable insects find abundance of food
in the wilderness where grasses grow,
The geologists know they were among
the Oldest Towering plants to appear on
the earth; the geographer is aware OF
their singularly extensive distribution
and peculiar adaptation to climature.
The botauist has of late years identified
their method of fertilization with one of
the most singular aud unlooked-for re-
lationships between plants and other
objects. No other kind of heritage con-
tributes SO largely to the support of the
animal world, from the grass-feeding
kangaroos of Australia to man. Our sta
pie food isprepared from their seeds, and
this has been the case since prehistoric
times, so that it is impossible to tell
for certainty from what species such
cultivated forms as our common wheat
were originally derived. Mankind has
forgotten the very sources of this
primeval food supply. Even in classic
times it was found necessary to invent
some such poetic fable as that of Ceres,
to account for the benefits which these
plants have conferred on man. How
long the seeds of certain grasses have
been the staple food of our race we can
not tell. Half.burnt wheat and other
corn grains have been found in album
dance among the debris of the Swiss.
lake dwellings, showing that it was
grown and garnered for food at that
early epoch. If it be true that the wild
grass known as Egilops, found in west
ern Asia, is the original Of the common
wheat we now so largely cultivate, then
the latter may have been first reared by
our Aryan ancestors, and have accom-
panied their migrations from the time
when the first colony went forth into the
unknown world outside their home.
The inconspicuous and uncolored
flowers of all grasses are not without
reason. Within the last six or seven
years it has been proved that the cause
of flowers possessing beautiful corollas
and sweet perfumes is that these quail
ties may attract the insect tribes. The
latter carry the pollen-grains from flow
Ell to flower, and thus unconsciously
benefit them by crossing. And, as u
rule, the plants which bear the most at
tractive flowers require to be crossed in
proportion to their effectiveness,
whilst less snowy corollas do not
require crossing in the same degree. 1t
is now known beyond doubt that this
principle OF cross-fertilization in plants
is one of the most important and neces-
sary. The shapes, internal and exter-
nal, of flowers are frequently designed
with special reference to bringing it
about. Only two agents are universally
capable of crossing all kinds Of flowers
insects and the wind. The former are
by bright colors and sweet per-
fumes, and the flowers which require in
sect aid are therefore obliged to display
these attractions. The latter is an un-
agent, on which color and
perfume would be completely thrown
away. Therefore the flowers habitual-
ly crossed by the wind do not possess
snowy blossoms; and hence the reason
why grasses, which are chief among the
flowers, have such an un-
pretending and inconspicuous kind of
nflorescence. .gi t.- r.iu) 4a
The perfumes of grasses are not so
abundant as those of other plants, al
lhough they are quite as distinctive
The well known smell of new-mown
nay is evolved chiefly by the sweet
smelling vernal grass and no other.
The presence of this species is quite suf-
icient to perfume the rest and to pro-
luce that most delightful of summary
mells, the odor of the bayfield,. The
perfume can now be artifcially initiated
rom the products of gas-tar, and reg
liar manufacture of it is carried on for
'erfumery purposes.-Casselps Maga-
the. ......