Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/173

* GBASSES. 147 GRASSES. suited to binding sands and embankments. Grass- seed as usually obtained consists of the grain, with more or less chart' closely envelojiing it. The seed proper consists of a small embryo, which lies at the base and nearly outside of Ihe starchy endo- sperm, and the endosperm with its adhering peri- carp. Upon the nature of the endosperm depends the great importance of some of the grasses in supplying various food-grains to man. Tlie following table represents Hackel's classi- fication of grasses, which is now generally ac- cepted by botanists, and by which the genera are grouped into thirteen tribes, in two series: improvement often observed in the appearance of cattle when turned out to pasture in the spring is probably due in large measure to the fact that the apiK'tite is increased by the succulent and agreeable llavor of the green feed, and thus the total amount of nutritive material consumed in a day is greater than when they are fed dry feed- ing stud's. If pasturage is abundant cattle and sheep will not need other feed. ]f such is not the case, owing to drought or other causes, pas- turage shotild be supplemented by other feeds. Generally speaking, grass increases in nutritive value until the seed is nearly ripe — that is, the BEKIES Number of tribe Name of tribe Appro.ximate number of species Notable representatives of the tribes Series A I. II. III. IV. v. VI. Andropogoneie Zoysiem Tristegineie PaDiceie Oryzeie 20 400 25 .So 650 •iO Maize or Indian corn, teosinte, etc. Sugar-cane, Borglium. durra. lemon grass, etc. Curly mesquite, galleta, Zoysia. Mostly tropical grasses of the Old World. Millets. Panicum, Paspalum Peunisetani, important trop- ical cereals. Guinea grass, etc. Rice, wild rice, etc. Series B VII.' VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. Pbalaridem Agrostidese A reneie Chloridese FestucaceiB Hordex Bambusa' 60 750 300 150 775 130 150 Canary grass, ribbon grass, sweet vernal grass. Timothy, redtop. meadow foxtail, and many other impor- tant pasture and fodder grasses. Oats, oat grasses, soft grass, etc. Bermuda, Buffalo, Grama, crowfoot grasses. Blue grass, fescue, orchard grass, brume grasses, teff, reed grass, chess, etc. Most important meadow grasses of temperate regions. Wheat, rye, barley, important cereals of temperate zones, rye-grasses, wheat-grasses, etc. Bamboos, etc. FEEDING VALUE OF GRASS. Grasses of manj' kinds are used for pastur- age, for soiling, and for hay. They constitute a very important group of feeding stuff for all farm animals. The feeding value of grasses commonly used for forage is shown by the aver- age percentage composition of the following kinds: Kentucki/ blue grass contains: Water, 65.1 per cent.; protein, 4.1 per cent.; fat, 1.3 per cent.; nitrogen-free extract, 17. C per cent.; crude fibre, 9.1 per cent.; ash, 2.8 per cent. Fescue contains : Water, 69.9 per cent. ; protein, 2.4 per cent. ; fat, 0.8 per cent. ; nitrogen-free extract, 14.3 per cent. ; crude fibre, 10.8 per cent. ; ash, 1.8 per cent. Timothy (a hay grass) contains: Wat^r. 61.6 per cent.: protein, 3.1 per cent.; fat, 1.2 per cent.: nitrogen-free extract, 20.3 per cent.; crude fibre, 11.8 per cent.; ash, 2.1 per cent. It will be seen that the three examples selected do not difl'er markedly in composition, and other grasses resemble them more or less closely. E.xperiment has shown that about 04 per cent, of the total dry matter, 48 per cent, of the protein, 06 per cent, of the nitrogen- free extr.ict. and 56 per cent, of the crude fibre of timothy is digested. Similar results have been obtained with other grasses. It may therefore be said that, judged by palatability, composition, and digestibility, grass fully deserves the high opinion in which it is held as a green fodder. Like most green feeds, glasses have a high water content. Their feeding value depends largely upon the carbohydrates present (both nitrogen-free extract and crude fibre), though they also furnish an appreciable amount of pro- tein. Like other succulent feeds, grasses have a value other than that derived from their com- position, viz. they stimulate the appetite. The plant continues to elaborate nutritive material until it has jjerfected its seeds. The plant then 'ripens'; that is, it ceases to form new nutritive material and by the action of rain, dew, sun- light, etc., loses more or less of that already formed. There may also be transfer of nutritive material from the stalks to the root. Some grasses, such as Bermuda grass, continue to grow throughout the season. Other grasses, e.g. buH'alo grass, cure in their natural habitat with- out appreciable loss of nutritive material. Most pasture, lawn, and hay grasses make new growth if cut or eaten of! by stock. See Pastures, Pas- turage; Soiling, Soiling Crops, Fossil Gr.^ss. Fossil remains of grasses, rec- ognized bj' their stems, leaves, flowers, and glumes, have been described from the Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks of America and Europe. Many of the Cretaceous species are of doubtful affinity with the grasses and more probably be- long to other groups, such as the sedges (Gype- raceae), and pond- weeds ( Naiadaeere ). The gen- era Arundo and Phra.gmites are the most common forms in the Upijer Cretaceous rocks. Among the Tertiar.v fossil grasses the most important is a species of bamboo (Bambusa) found in the Plio- cene deposits of France. Avhich is closely allied to the modem bamboos of the Orient. Bibliography. Hackel, True Grasses (English trans. New York, 1890) ; Baillon, "Monographie des Graniinfcs," in Eistoire des Plantes (Paris, 1893) ; Bentham and Hooker, in Genera Plantarum (London, 1883) ; Decandolle, il/ono- firaphia Phanerogam arum (Paris, 1880) ; Vasey, Monograph of the Grasses of North America (Washington, 1892) : Lamson-Scribner, Ameri- can Grasses (Washington, 1899-1900) ; Beal, fh-asses of North America, 2 vols. (vol. i., Lan- sing, Mich., 1887; vol. ii., New York, 1900);