301 



toises, 1-1 5th to 1-1 6th; 1100 to 1600 toises, 1-1 1th; above 1600 toises, 

 l-14th. 



" A detailed representation of the distribution of the cultivated Gramina 

 would certainly be very interesting. Here we must restrict ourselves to 

 a short and general outline. We shall endeavour to specify those Gramina 

 which are the prevailing ones in the large zones and continents, mentioning, 

 in passing, those plants of other families which either supply the place of, 

 or are associated with, the different kinds of grain, as the chief article of 

 food. This distribution is determined, not merely by climate, but depends 

 on the civilisation, industry, and traffic of the people, and often on historical 

 events. 



" Within the northern polar circle, agriculture is found only in a few 

 places. In Siberia grain reaches at the utmost only to 60°, in the eastern 

 parts scarcely above 55°, and in Kamchatka there is no agriculture even in 

 the most southern parts (51°). The polar limit of agriculture on the north- 

 west coast of America appears to be somewhat higher ; for, in the more 

 southern Russian possessions (57° to 58°), barley and rye come to maturity. 

 On the east coast of America it is scarcely above 50° to 52°. Only in 

 Europe, namely, in Lapland, does the polar limit reach an unusually high 

 latitude (70°). Beyond this, dried fish, and here and there potatoes, supply 

 the place of grain. 



" The grains which extend farthest to the north in Europe are barley 

 and oats. These, which in the milder climates are not used for bread, afford 

 to the inhabitants of the northern parts of Norway and Sweden, of a part of 

 Siberia and Scotland, their chief vegetable nourishment. 



" Rye is the next which becomes associated with these. This is the pre- 

 vailing grain in a great part of the northern temperate zone, namely, in the 

 south of Sweden and Norway, Denmark, and in all the lands bordering on 

 the Baltic ; the north of Germany, and part of Siberia. In the latter, 

 another very nutritious grain, buck-wheat, is very frequently cultivated. In 

 the zone where rye prevails, wheat is also generally to be found ; barley 

 being here chiefly cultivated for the manufacture of beer, and oats supplying 

 food for the horses. 



'' To these there follows a zone in Europe and western Asia, where rye 

 disappears, and wheat almost exclusively furnishes bread. The middle, or 

 the south of France, England, part of Scotland, a part of Germany, Hun- 

 gary, the Crimea and Caucasus, as also the lands of middle Asia, where 

 agriculture is followed, belong to this zone. Here the vine is also found ; 

 wine supplants the use of beer; and barley is consequently less raised. 



" Next comes a district where wheat still abounds, but no longer exclu- 

 sively furnishes bread, rice and maize becoming frequent. To this zone 

 belong Portugal, Spain, part of France on the Mediterranean, Italy, and 

 Greece ; further, the countries of the East, Persia, northern India, Arabia, 

 Egypt, Nubia, Barbary, and the Canary Islands; in these latter countries, 

 however, the culture of maize or rice, towards the south, is always more con- 

 siderable, and in some of them several kinds of Sorghum (Doura) and Poa 

 Abyssinica come to be added. In both these regions of wheat, rye only 

 occurs at a considerable elevation ; oats, however, more seldom, and at last 

 entirely disappear ; barley affording food for horses and mules. 



" In the eastern parts of the temperate zone of the Old Continent, in 

 China and Japan, our northern kinds of grain are very unfrequent, and rice 

 is found to predominate. The cause of this difference between the east and 

 the west of the Old Continent appears to be in the manners and peculiarities 

 of the people. In North America, wheat and rye grow as in Europe, but 

 more sparingly. Maize is more reared in the Western than in the Old 



