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in the Levant, and cooked in the same manner as rice. Four 

 other sub-species not grown in England are 'Triticuni Polonicwni, 

 called Polish wheat, although probably of African origin ; 

 Triticum amylleuin, starch wheat ; and Triticuni monococcum, 

 one grained wheat. 



The sub-species of oats (Avena) cultivated for grain are four in 

 number, of which the most variable is the common oat (Avena 

 sativa), some fifty varieties of which are grown in Britain, most 

 productively in the northern or more elevated parts. The others 

 are the Tartarian oat (Avena orientalis) ; the short oat (Avena 

 brevisj, grown almost exclusively in the most mountainous 

 districts of France and Spain ; and the naked oat (Avena nuda). 



Barley, besides being probably the oldest, is tiie most widely 

 cultivated of the cereals, its tillage extending from the tropics 

 to northern Norway and Siberia, accompanied in boreal extension 

 by the oat, which, however, does not reach quite so far north. 

 In the extreme northern county of Scotland the eastern coast is 

 richly manured with the abundant offal of the herring fishery, 

 and there where wheat will not ripen, luxuriant crops of barley 

 are grown, nearly altogether utilized in the production of the cup 

 that cheers, but also inebriates, the Caledonian Celt, and the 

 Circean charms of which his southern compatriots are not always 

 able to resist. Barley may be divided into four sub-species — 

 Hordeicm vulgare, four-rowed ; Ilordeum hexastichon, six-rowed ; 

 Hordeum zeocitron, fan or battledore ; and Hordeum distichon, 

 two-rowed or long-eared barley. 



Rye (Secale cercale) was once extensively cultivated in Britain 

 us a bread corn. It is, however, now almost discarded here, but 

 on the continent, especially in those parts of Russia and the 

 adjacent countries which are unsuited for growing wheat, it still 

 furnishes almost the only bread eaten by the inhabitants, and 

 which, though less nutritious than that made from wheat, is 

 found to keep longer. It is also employed as a substitute for 

 coflee. 



The tracts in the northern hemisphere in which the four 

 cereals under consideration can be grown have irregular 

 boundaries, modified by local conditions, like the thermal zones. 

 North of the breadline, as Schouw terms it, lie the polar countries, 

 where dried fish takes the place of bread. 



The highest of the cereal zones in Europe is, as has been 

 already indicated, that of barley and oats, which extend from 



