Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/177

 GRASSES genera; the pistillate or female flowers are enclosed by a bur-like woody involucre; it runs extensively by stolons, and forms a dense turf, the foliage of which is but a few inches high. Mezquite grass is often mentioned by travellers in the far southwest; like other local names in new countries, this is applied to quite different plants; it seems to be given to what- 7QT grasses grow in the region of the mezquite ee, and species of aristida, bouteloua, and ren the buffalo grass, have this name given to lem by different persons. Grama grass is Iso praised by those who visit Spanish Amer- m countries, and comprises a number of spe- js of bouteloua. Another indefinite name >f travellers is " bunch grass," given to any id that forms clumps or tufts; festucas, utelouas, triticums, and eriocoma all bear lis name. Grasses regarded as Weeds. One of the most troublesome weeds of the farmer and gardener is couch grass (triticum repens), already mentioned. Chess or cheat (bromus secalinus) is a pest of the grain fields, often so abundant from unclean seed as to induce igno- rant farmers to believe that wheat really turns into chess. Dogs-tail or wire grass (eleusine Indica) is a common weed in the streets of )wns and villages, and encroaches upon the near them. Barnyard grass (panicum alii) is common in waste places, and rb.ere the soil is rich grows with great luxu- iance, but being an annual is easily subdued. The crab or finger grass (panicum sanguinale) late in summer one of the most annoying of le gardener's pests, as it roots at every joint, id unless eradicated when very young is iblesome. Marsh Grasses. Along the mar- of rivers, especially where salt and fresh 3r meet, there are often wide tracts cover- with verdure and known as meadows or les. When the growth is sufficiently fine lese meadows are mowed, and the product, lown as marsh hay or salt hay, is largely sed for bedding animals and for mulching. )ften a large share of this hay consists of rasses, but frequently it is made up of rushes " sedges ; a small rush (juncus Gerardi and perhaps others), called "black grass," often covers large tracts. Among the grasses prop- found in such localities are species of irtina, glyceria, and phragmites. Orna- mtal Grasses. Several tropical grasses are >wn as greenhouse plants, and in late years > taste for cultivating the hardier kinds in le open border has greatly increased. Some " these, like erianthus Ravenna and the pam- s grass (gynerium argenteum), are grown >r their stately appearance; their flower leir long leaves form large clumps of graceful itline. Other species are cultivated for the jauty of their flowers, which are dried for laking ornamental bouquets. In some of the lorticultural establishments of Germany bou- lets of dried grasses are an article of export. -Very many kinds of grass not here enumer- GRASSHOPPER 169 ated are more or less well known, the more important of which are treated in separate ar- ticles, as CANARY GRASS, FEATHER GRASS, MIL- LET, REED, &c. Many plants commonly called grasses do not belong to the grass family. In some agricultural works, clover, lucerne, sain- foin, and other forage plants are incorrectly classed as grasses ; these will be found under their proper titles. The most complete general scientific treatises upon grasses are Kunth's Enumeratio Plantarum (5 vols., Stuttgart, 1833-'50) and Steudel's Synopsis Graminea- rum (Stuttgart, 1855). The species east of the Mississippi are described in Gray's "Man- ual of the Botany of the Northern United States" (New York, 1867) and Chapman's "Flora of the Southern United States " (New York, 1860) ; those of the far western portions of our territory are scattered through various reports and memoirs. Flint's "Grasses and Forage Plants " (Boston, 1867) is the principal American work upon the agricultural grasses. GRASSHOPPER, a name properly applied to orthopterous insects of the family locustadce. Some European entomologists assign the gene- ric name locusta to the grasshopper ; the sau- terelles of the French include both locusts and grasshoppers; great inconvenience has arisen from this confusion of names, which will be avoided by calling the grasshoppers locustadce, and the locusts acrydii. The locustadw are characterized by having long antennae, four joints to all their feet, wing covers sloping downward at the sides of the body, and the end of the abdomen in the females provided with a projecting sword-shaped piercer; the jaws are formed for mastication; the upper wings are thick and opaque, overlapping a lit- tle on the back, this portion forming a long triangle, traversed in the males by strong pro- jecting veins, between which are thin, transpa- rent, membranous spaces ; the under wings are thin and folded in plaits like a fan ; they undergo a partial transformation the larvas and pupse being active, voracious, and wing- less; they are injurious to vegetation in all their forms. The males emit a shrill sound produced by the friction of the overlapping portions of the wings, intensified by the vibra- tion of the air contained in the internal air sacs, and its action upon a complicated series of valves and membranous plates about the ori- gins of the wings and legs. Most grasshop- pers are of a green color, more or less resem- bling the leaves upon which they feed ; they are more active by night than by day ; when taken, they emit from the mouth a dark-col- ored fluid, known by every school boy as "molasses;" they do not associate together, nor migrate from place to place in large num- bers, as do the locusts proper. Some live upon grass and herbaceous plants, and the females lay their eggs in the ground in holes made by their nearly straight piercers; the eggs are elongated, ellipsoidal, very numerous, from one fourth to one fifth of an inch long, and
 * alks grow to the height of 12 ft., and