64 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



dred varieties are grown on irrigated lands, and more than one 

 hundred on uplands,* 



With the possible exception of rice, not one of the species of 

 cereals is certainly known in the wild state, f Now and then speci- 

 mens have been gathered in the East which can be referred to the 

 probable types from which our varieties have sprung, but doubt 

 has been thrown upon every one of these cases. It has been 

 shown conclusively that it is easy for a plant to escape from culti- 

 vation and persist in its new home even for a long time in a near 

 approximation to cultivated form. Hence, we are forced to re- 

 ceive all statements regarding the wild forms with caution. But 

 it may be safely said that if all the varieties of cereals which we 

 now cultivate were to be swept out of existence, we could hardly 

 know where to turn for wild species with which to begin again. 

 We could not know with certainty. 



To bring this fact a little more vividly to our minds, let us 

 suppose a case. Let us imagine that a blight without parallel has 

 brought to extinction all the forms of wheat, rice, rye, oats, bar- 

 ley, and maize now in cultivation, but without affecting the other 

 grasses or any other form of vegetable food. Mankind would be 

 obliged to subsist upon the other kindly fruits of the earth — upon 

 root-crops, tubers, leguminous seeds, and so on. Some of the sub- 

 stitutions might be amusing in any other time than that of a 

 threatened famine. Others would be far from appetizing under 

 any condition, and only a few would be wholly satisfying even to 

 the most pronounced vegetarian. In short, it would seem, from 

 the first, that the cereals fill a place occupied by no other plants. 

 The composition of the grains is theoretically and practically al- 

 most perfect as regards food ratio between the nitrogenous mat- 

 ters and the starch group ; and the food value, as it is termed, 

 is high. But, aside from these considerations, it would be seen 

 that for safety of preservation through considerable periods, and 

 for convenience of transportation, the cereals take highest rank. 

 Pressure would come from every side to compel us to find equiva- 

 lents for the lost grains. From this predicament I believe that 

 the well-equipped experiment stations and the Agricultural De- 

 partments in Europe and America would by and by extricate us. 

 Continuing this hypothetical case, let us next inquire how the sta- 

 tions would probably go to work in the up-hill task of making 

 partially good a well-nigh irreparable loss. 



The whole group of relatives of the lost cereals would be passed 



* E. L. S. in letter, quoted from Seedsman's Catalogue. 



•)■ The best account of the early history of these and other cultivated plants can be 

 found in the classical work of De Candolle, Origine dcs Plantcs Cultivees (Paris), trans- 

 lated in the International Series, History of Cultivated Plants (New York). The reader 

 i:houId consult also Darwin's Animals and Plants under Domestication. 



