The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-11-25
THE GRASS FAMILY.

hoWci-DcuS. w nav BTdoo BOou lor, any
way? Now, mother, / know you are
going to tell me how my COW likes it.,
and how | like her milk, but that don't
alter the fact that grass is always in the
wrong place, and somebody has work
to get it out of the way. ! believe the
world could do very well without the
grass family"
81 know little girl who would be
the first to object if all the grass family
were banished," said Mrs. Winter.
"Try me and see, mother"
Every well; shall we begin now?"
Eyes, lam, as soon as l get my
bread and butter"
Here is the butter, but can not give
you the bread; it belongs to the large
family you want to Danish"
What, mother this light bread?"
Certainly, wheat is one of the
grasses.
Well, then, I'll take muffin"
mot now; the muffin is made of corn
meal, and corn is another member of
the grass family"
bcdT ulc, L UOl U ike UTOWu UTcdO,
but Ill have to fall back on that"
mo, the brown bread is made of rye
flour. l have often heard you admire
the fields of rye-grass.
Madge's face fell. She was very
hungry after her scuffle with the grass
among the flowers, and now it seemed
the troublesome thing was about to get
the best of her, after all. With doubt
full look she handed her plate for a
spoonful of rice. But again her mother
refused; it was one of the banished
grasses.
well, mother, you always get the
best of me. I'll take back all said. l
begin to think we could not live with
out grass, but, of course, l did not
know such things as wheat and corn
were grasses"
'They are the seed or fruit of grass. +"
''But, mother, they do not look alike.
Why do you class them together? What
is the coat of arms of this family?'
I'm the first place all these stems are
culms, that is, jointed and hollow be-
tween the joints Second the leaves
have open sheaths, inclosing the stem
at their base. And they are two
ranked the second leaf coming out
half way around the stem above the
first, and the third leaf exactly above
the first, and the fourth above the Sec
ond, and so on, and all have parallel
veins, Third, each flower is inclosed
in glume, or husk. Fourth, they are
all indigenous.
THAT means inside growing" said
Madge.
"Yes; there are no layers, but the
wood and pith is all mixed in together,
as you will see if you cut across corn
stalk"
"Why. mother, all the bread we eat
is made from the grass family"
Eyes; and the oat meal, wheat germ,
hominy, rrits, barley; and besides that
they furnish nearly al the food for cat
tie. The great loads of hay, the barns
full of timothy and orchard-grass, all
come from your banished family. And
there is one you are especially fond of
and drink it's juice as readily as Daisy
does that from the sweet hay"
Il may chew gum, but l never chew
grass stems for their juice, mother"
'How about the sugar-cane?"
'Of course, suck the juice from
that. Surely, that is not member of
the family?"
Look at the coat of arms and see p"
ItNac. lynnu ~ hoe sDt,,taI y+,,,,
with wood and pith mixed together. The
leaves grow in two ranks, and are
parallel veined, and form sheath
around the stem. Is the root fibrous?'
Eyes; there is no long tap root, and
the flowers are inclosed in little, scaly
bracts, or glumes. This cane is an i'm
portant one Of the grasses. Nearly all
the best sugar of the world comes from
it. Your candy shops would have to
close, and no more cane-sirup for that
sweet tooth Of yours. No more pop
corn balls, either"
"What, mother, how is that?"
"Only that the sugar comes from the
cane, and the popcorn, like your bread.
corn, is first cousin"
1.-THE corn and cane are the largest of
the grass family; are they not, mother?''
mo; there is a distant relative in
tropical countries which grows much
larger, the bamboo. 1t runs up from
fifty to eighty feet high, and the hol-
low-jointed stem is ten inches thick-as
large as your body. 1t is a beautiful
plant and very useful"
"Do they grind up the seed for bread
as we do corn?"
mo; only the young, tender shoots
are used for food, but almost every
thing is made of the stem-houses,
water-pipes, umbrellas, fishing.rods,
baskets, hats, furniture, ropes, and pa.
per. and so on"
"Oh, yes, and l have seen the walk.
ing canes made of bamboo. Which OF
all the grasses is the most useful?"
Rice furnishes food to more people
than any, for the people of China and
India live almost entirely on rice. Corn
and wheat are used more in this coun-
try"
do none of the grasses have pretty
flowers?"
mo, perhaps not; but the feathery
plumes of the pampas grasses are as