This section is from the book "The Home Cyclopedia Of General Information", by Charles Morris. Also available from Amazon: Home Cyclopedia of Necessary Knowledge.
[A.S.] Herbage; green fodder; the plant which forms the food of cows, horses, and other hoofed animals; also the class of grain plants with narrow leaves and hollow stems, as wheat, oats, barley, rice, etc. A meadow is a field permanently occupied by grass. When the grass is eaten off by animals it is called a pasture, and when allowed to grow and made into hay it is called meadow hay. Bamboos, though high, are also jointed like grasses. Grasses produce flour, meal, starch, sugar, beer, whiskey, paper and everything made from straw.
 
Continue to: