The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-08-08
The Study Of Grasses.

Next to the study of ferns, perhaps
that of grasses has efvlatuEyears been
most popular. TheiF grsaeful Sshspes,
variety Of s9ecies and abu sdance RENDER
them attrae tive objects 10 the young
b9tar;cal stude6t. TheT carpet our
Englixh meadows and gife them that
aeharsste-istie gleenery .xhishis so Wv
idly remembered when one is far away
from them. The cattle upon thousand
hills browse upon their succulent and
nutritious foliage. The larve Of innu-
mersble insects find abpHd aEce 4 food
in the wilderness where grasses grow.
The geolQgists know -they were among,
The Oldest lowering plants to appear on
the earths the geegrapher fis aware Of
their singularly extensive disiribution
Snd peculiar adaptation 10 lcliniateref
The jbotauist has Of late years identified
their method of fertilization with one OF
the most singular and unlooked-for re-
lationships between plants and other
objects, No. other kind OF heritage com
tributes so largely to the support OF the,
animal world, from the igrass-feeding
kangaroos of Australia to man. y Our star
pie food is prepared from their seeds. and
this has been the case Since prehistoric
times, $50 Sthste it lis impossible 20 tel
sfor 3 certainty from what species such
| CULTIVATED forms as our common wheat
we're originally derived Mankind has
forgotten the very Sources OF this
yPrimeyal food supply, Even in classic
times it was found necessary to invent
some such poetic fableas 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 OUTRAGE we can
not tell. Half ,burnt wheat, and other
corn grains have been found in abun-
dance among the debris of the Swiss
lake dwellings,, showing that il 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 .aecom-
| panied their migrations from the time
when the first colony went forth into the
unknown world outside their'hOme. ar
4, The inconspiepoqs. and 7pncolored
flowers of all grasses are not without a
reason. Within the last Six or seven
years it has been proved that thes cause
f6f flowers possessing beautiful eorollas
and sweet perfumes is that these quail
ties may attract the insect tribes. The
latter carry the, pollep-grains from dow
er to flower, and thus unconsciously
\ benefit them by crossing. And, as a
rule, the plants which bear the most at
tractive flowers require to be crossed in
proportion to their effectiveness,
whilst less snowy eorollas do not
require crossing in the same degree. Ii
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 aud lexter-
nal, of flowers are frequently designed
with special reference 10 bringing II
about. Only two agents are universally
capable of crossing all kinds of flowers
insects and the wind. The former are
attracted 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 nm
CONSCIOUS dgeiib, Ou WhicH COloh ahO
perfume would be completely thrown
away Therefore the flowers habitual
" crossed by the wind do not possess
snowy blossoms; and hence the reason
why grasses, which are chief among tbs
wInd-crossed flowers, have such an un
pretending and inconspicuous kind o
inAOrescence.
The perfumes of grasses are not &c
abundant as those of other plants al
though they are quite as distinctive
The well. known smell of new-mowI
hay is evolved chiefly by the sweet
smelling vernal grass and no other
The presence of this species is quite suf
fcient to perfume the rest and to pro
duce that most delightful of summer,
smells, the odOr of the bayfield,. Th
perfume can now be artificially initiates
from the products of gas-tar, and reg
ular manufacture of it is carried on fo
perfumery purposes.-CGsselps Maya
zine.