CONNECTICUT GRASSES.

In the last Report the improvement of our meadows and pastures was spoken of as one great need of our agriculture. A better knowledge of our pasture and meadow grasses, their habits and uses, is a first step towards supplying this need. Questions as to the adaptation of different grasses to particular kinds of soil, the necessary water supply, their rooting habits, how they stand treading and close pasturing by cattle, causes of running out, etc., are still unsettled and show how much must be learned before we can manage grass land to the best advantage. Near our cities the hay crop is sometimes the most profitable one we have, and might often be made much more so by proper management. Our common grasses ought to be known, so that they can be readily told apart by farmers generally at all seasons of the year and rightly named, for till this is done it is clear that no one can speak or write about grasses with any chance of being understood. In the last Report were some explanations of the classification and naming of grasses and an explanatory list of the scientific and popular names of our commonest Connecticut grasses. There was also some account of the Station Forage Garden, in which are to be seen all our common grasses growing, correctly named, and where their habits can be studied to some extent and where pure seed can be got. Extra copies of this part

of the Report can be supplied to any who want them.

During the present year there has been shown a greatly increased interest in this subject throughout the State. More than a hundred and fifty specimens have been sent in to be named or for other information from all parts of the State. Named specimens of fresh grasses have also been sent out by the Station in answer to requests for them. The Station is prepared to identify specimens of grass sent here, and so far as possible will supply collections of small samples of seed to any schools, granges, or farmers' clubs that would like to have a collection of named grasses growing near them.

Should sufficient interest be awakened, we could perhaps arrange to send by mail whole plants for inspection and study as they come into bloom through the season.

The Station is also always prepared to examine for farmers seeds of grasses or of vegetables with reference to their purity and vitality.