Box 16, Folder 3: Grasses of Wisconsin 1854

410

certain that we have the best kinds, nor that those we have brought to the greatest degree of perfection. Doubtless grasses might be improved by a proper course of culture, as well as fruits and blooded stock. New and peculiar varieties might be produced, suited to different purposes, combining the excellences of two or more species, and thus adding largely to the value of our pastures and meadows. This improvement would also extend to the stock fed upon the improved grasses, yielding us a better article of beef, butter, &c.

Louden relates* that the introduction, into the island of Jamaica, of a grass from Guinea (Panicum polygonatum), as food for birds, has been the cause of the increase of horned cattle in that island, until it has a better supply, both for the butcher and planter, than almost any other country. Few markets in Europe furnish beef of better quality, and at a cheaper rate than is now done by the people of Jamaica.

The following table, showing the weight of a bushel, and the number of grains in an ounce, of different kinds of grass seed, is interesting and useful. It is taken from a small Treatise on Grasses, by P. Lawson & Sons, seedsmen, Edinburgh:

Names. Weight per Bushel in lbs. No. of Seeds in one ounce.

Agrostis alba ... 13 500,000 Agrostis vulgaris ... 12 425,000 Aira caespitosa ... 14 132,000 Alopecurus pratensis ... 5 1/2 76,000 Anthoxanthum odoratum ... 6 71,000 Avena elatior ... 7 21,000 Calamagrostis arenaria ... 15 10,000 Dactylis glomerata ... 11 1/2 40,000 Festuca elatior ... 14 20,500 Festuca ovina ... 13 1/4 64,000 Festuca pratensis ... 13 26,000 Glyceria aquatica ... 13 1/4 58,000 Glyceria fluitans ... 14 1/2 33,000 Holcus lanatus ... 7 95,000 Lolium perenne ... 18 16,000 Milium effusum ... 25 95,000 Phalaris arundinacea ... 48 42,000 Phleum pratense ... 46 74,000 Poa nemoralis ... 15 173,000 Poa pratensis ... 13 1/4 243,000 Poa trivialis ... 15 1/4 217,000

--------

* Encyclopedia of Agriculture, p. 195.

411

The following Table, compiled from the results of the experiments at Woburn, contains information of much value in regard to many species of grass:

No. Name of Grass. Produce per Acre - lbs. Per centage of loss in drying.

8 Setaria viridis ... 6,806 .42 9 Alopecurus geniculatus ... 20,419 .70 10 Alopecurus pratensis ... 40,837 .57 17 Phleum pratense ... 10,209 .50 18 Agrostis vulgaris ... 17,696 .63 25 Agrostis alba ... 19,057 .65 53 Muhlenbergia Mexicana ... 27,906 .68 60 Dactylis Glomerata ... 21,780 .29 61 Glyceria nervata ... 126,596 .40 62 Glyceria aquatica ... 13,612 .30 63 Glyceria fluitans ... 5,445 .35 66 Poa annua ... 9,188 .42 68 Poa nemoralis ... 5,445 .31 70 Poa alpina ... 7,487 .70 71 Poa trivalis [trivialis] ... 10,209 .72 72 Poa pratensis ... 3,403 .57 79 Poa compressa ... 5,445 .. 80 Festuca ovina ... .. .65 81 Festuca elatior ... 13,613 .52 90 Festuca pratensis ... 12,251 .60 94 Triticum repens ... 7,827 .57 95 Lolium perenne ... 13,612 .50 97 Lolium temulentum ... 30,628 .50 98 Elymus canadensis ... 20,419 .43 99 Elymus striatus ... 27,225 .50 105 Elymus hystrix ... 10,209 .67 106 Aira flexuosa ... 10,209 .61 113 Aira caespitosa ... 19,058 .65 114 Holcus lanatus ... 9,529 .73 115 Hierochloa borealis ... 7,827 .73 116 Anthoxanthum odoratum ... 27,225 .45 117 Phalaris arundinacea ... 54,450 .32 118 Phalaris canariensis ... 7,827 .61 120 Milium effusum ... 6,806 .38 139 Panicum sanguinale ... 5,445 .60

From the reports of the United States census of 1840 and 1850 we obtain the following Table of the gramminaceous products of Wisconsin:

1840. 1850. (Population) ... 30,945 305,191 Wheat, bushels ... 212,116 4,286,131 Barley, bushels ... 11,062 209,602 Oats, bushels ... 406,514 3,414,672 Rye, bushels ... 1,965 81,253 Indian corn, bushels ... 379,359 1,988,979 Hay, tons ... 30,938 275,662

412

Of the wheat produced in 1849, as shown in this table, about twothirds were exported, mostly by way of Lake Michigan, being shipped at the ports of Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Racine, either in the form of grain or flour.

Table of the exports of wheat and flour, at Milwaukee, from 1845 to 1853:

[Table Column 1]

Year. Wheat (bushels.) Flour (barrels.)

1845 95,500 7,500 1846 213,448 15,756 1847 598,011 34,840 1848 612,474 92,732 1849 1,148,807 136,657

[Table Column 2]

Year. Wheat (bushels.) Flour (barrels.)

1850 297,578 100,017 1851 130,744 101,811 1852 428,512 88,213 1853 1,181,090 159,216

Besides the above, large quantities are shipped annually at the ports of Kenosha and Racine; and recently Sheboygan and Ozaukee have begun to export this invaluable grain.

Among the items exported by way of Lake Michigan, besides wheat and flour, are large quantities of oats and barley; and also corn, hay, grass-ssed, rye and broom-corn.

The following Table shows the prices of grain in Milwaukee, in the month of October, for the last four years, including the low prices of 1851, and the high rates of the past year. The prices are in cents per bushel:

1850. 1851. 1852. 1853. Winter Wheat ... 60 to 73 40 to 70 66 to 75 91 to 111 Spring Wheat ... 38 to 65 30 to 50 48 to 66 82 to 100 Rye ... -------- 32 to 35 50 to 56 52 to 58 Barley ... 45 to 60 35 to 50 40 to 56 40 to 50 Oats ... 25 to 30 15 to 18 26 to 29 25 to 30

It may not be unimportant to copy here some account of the method of preparing straw, or the culms of grass for the manufacture of hats. "The period of flowering, or at the time the grass is in full flower, or when the blossom is about decaying, is the best stage of growth at which to cut the culms. They may be bleached by the process detailed by Mr. Cobbett, in his 'Cottage Economy.' The culms being selected and placed in a convenient vessel, boiling water is poured over them, in quantity sufficient to cover the straw; in this they are to remain ten minutes; when

413

thus scalded the culms are to be spread out on a grass plat to bleach; by turning them once a day, the bleaching is generally effected in seven or eight days. According to my experience, the bleaching may be effected in a much shorter space of time. Instead of ten minutes, the culms are suffered to remain in the scalding water from one to two hours; they are then spread out on the grass and regularly moistened as they become dry, and turned once a day for two days: after this it is taken up and washed clean from dust, &c. It is then in a moist state placed in a close vessel and subjected to the fumes of burning sulphur for two hours. This has been found sufficient to bleach the straw in the most perfect manner." *

The Vegetable Kingdom consists of two grand divisions, one (Phaenogamia) having flowers, with at least the essential organs of stamens and pistils, and producing seed which contains an embryo; the other (Cryptogamia) destitute of flower, and with seeds containing no embryo.

The Phaenogamous, or flowering plants, are again divided into two classes; one with stems formed of bark, wood, and pith, the wood increasing from year to year by layers formed on the exterior, (hence called Exogens); the leaves are net-veined, the embryo with two or more opposite cotyledons or lobes. The other class of flowering plants, to which the grasses belong, have stems not arranged in regular layers; ^1 the growth is from the centre (hence called Endogens); the leaves are mostly furnished with parallel veins, and sheathing at the base, not toothed or notched; the embryo with a single cotyledon.

The grasses, (Gramineae,) are those Endogenous Phaengams, with stems (culms) mostly hollow, closed at the joints, with leaves alternate, apparently sessile, their sheaths clasping the stem, and slit open on the side opposite the blade down to the next joint: the flowers, with glumes or bracts, arranged in little groups or spikelets. By these simple characters any true grass may be known.

The graminae are chiefly herbaceous; their roots fibrous, though often growing from a rhizoma, or underground stem, which is creeping and branched; the sheaths are often extended above the leaves into a kind

-----

* Sinclair, Hort. Gram. Woburnensis, p. 427. ^1 See plate XI., figure 3, which represents a cross section through the culm of phleum pratense, as seen with the aid of the microscope, and shows the endoginous structure.

414

of margin, called a ligule; the spikelets with one, two, or many flowers, panicled, or spiked; the outer leaflets of the flowers are called glumes, the inner, paleae; stamens three, rarely one to six; styles two, plumose; fruit, a grain (called caryopsis,) free, or sometimes united with the paleae; embryo at the base, and on the outside of the albumen.

Artificial Arrangement of the Grasses of the North-west.

This table is intended to aid in ascertaining the name of an unknown grass. The mode of using it is quite simple, and will be easily understood by a little attention. We first examine the flowers, and finding only one in each little group or spikelet, we refer to No. 2, if more than one flower, refer to No. 26. If the flowers are arranged in panicles, look down to No. 3; then see whether there are awns, if so, refer to No. 4. Should there be no glumes, and the grass under examination aquatic, we know it to be a zizania, or wild rice. But this conclusion must be confirmed by reference to the more full description in the body of the work, or in books on botany.

Having the name, we may refer to all that has been published concerning our specimen in the numerous works relating to agriculture and botany.

1. Spikelets with but one flower ... 2 1. Spikelets with two or more flowers ... 26 2. Flowers arranged in panicles ... 3 2. Flowers in spikes ... 16 3. With awns ... 4 3. Without awns ... 12 4. Glumes large ... 5 4. Glumes minute, unequal, one hardly perceptible ... 11 4. Glumes none, grass aquatic ... 2-Zizania 5. Without abortive rudiments ... 6 5. With an abortive rudiment of a second flower ... 44-Holcus 6. Paleae two ... 7 6. Paleae three, upper one with an awn flowers polygamous ... 56-Sorgham 7. Palea with one awn ... 8 7. Lower palea with three twisted awns ... 15-Aristida 8. Paleae cartilaginous ... 9 8. Paleae herbacious ... 10 8. Paleae membranaceous, with one keel ... 8-Agrostis 9. Flowers sessile ... 13-Oryzopsis 9. Flowers stipate, fruit black ... 14-Stipa