218 AVENA. 



pores, by reason of the make and shape of the parts, the whole body 

 must necessarily unwreath and wreath itself." Microg. p. 151. 



1. Avena sativa. 'Wl)t (©at: ^it<S: ^cttsi.— "And (©tc£{ is a 

 good graine in the common wealth, for men, horse, and foules : as 

 thei haue little other bread in many places of Wales, and Darbie shire. 

 In Northumberlande, horse haue as greate plentie to eate of theim, 

 as menne haue in moste places of this realme, either Wheate or Rie, 

 for their owne foode. And in the North it is called Hauer." Bul- 

 leyne. Book of Simples, fol. xxx. 



The Black or small-bearded Grey-Oat is said to have been the only 

 kind grown in our district until after the invasion of Scotland by 

 Cromwell ; and a Commonwealth officer, of the name of Blith, has the 

 honour of having displaced it by the introduction of the White-Oat. 

 Of this we have now many varieties, of which the principal appear 

 to be — 1. the Potato ; 2. the Sandy ; 3. the Hoptoun ; 4. the early 

 Angus; 5. the Poland ; and 6. the Common Oat. Other varieties 

 arise, and are introduced from time to time. 



Anson is said to have found the Oat wild in Juan Fernandez. 

 Willd. Sp. Plant, i. p. 446. — This is an out-of-theway place certainly 

 to find the original seat of a north-loving grain ; and in truth, the 

 search after the native spot of our cultivated cereals seems about as 

 wise and productive as the search after the philosopher's stone. 

 They were never wild, but are the coheritors of the soil with 

 civilized man ; and if some scattered plant has been anywhere 

 found that could be cultivated into a cereal — which is very doubtful 

 — that scattered plant is the degenerate and run-wild descendant 

 of the social species. Mr. Stark has some excellent remarks on 

 this subject in his essay "On the supposed progress of human society 

 from savage to civilized life." I quote a passage which merely ex- 

 presses the conclusion at which he arrives : — " Unlike many other 

 plants with a circumscribed geographical range, wheat, barley, oats, 

 and rye, are found in almost every place where there are tribes of 

 men. And it is farther a curious and unaccountable circumstance, 

 except in one view, that these grains are never found in a wild state, 

 available to any extent for the purposes of man. Their continuance 

 depends upon their cultivation. Everywhere they are found to die 

 ovit, if left to the spontaneous care of nature." Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 Edin. XV. i. p. 204. 



Pipes " made with green corn," especially with the second shoot 

 of the stalk of the Oat, is a favourite plaything of the sauntering 

 schoolboy; and the invention claims an ancient descent. See Strut's 

 Sports and Pastimes, p. xxxix. 



2. A. nuda. l^afecU or ^^ill^^at. — Once generally cultivated. 



3. A. orientalis.— Koch Fl. Germ. 794.— Cijc Cartavn (J^at.— 

 Cultivated to some extent. It is a coarse but productive species, 

 distinguished readily by its unilateral panicle. 



1.57- A. PRATENSis. Dry pastures. Sea and river banks in 

 several places. Jvily. 



