BARLEY AND RYE 



On poor soil and with bad cultivation, " spelt "" is said to be 

 even now the most profitable crop. 



Wild Barley grows in Arabia and from Asia Minor to 

 Baluchistan. It is very important in the colder regions of 

 Northern Europe, in Tibet, and in China, but with us " John 

 Barleycorn " is chiefly used for brewing. 



Rye also comes from Asia Minor. It was not apparently 

 known in Europe until the Bronze period, but is now " the 

 chief cereal of the German and Slavonic nations." The 

 black rye-bread is familiar to all who have travelled on the 

 Continent. The straw is good fodder, and is used for 

 making hats and for paper. ^ 



A very interesting point on which, however, it is quite 

 impossible to come to a definite decision, may be noticed 

 here. We will suppose what is quite as likely as any other 

 theory, viz. that man as a gardening creature first settled 

 somewhere in the Euphrates or Caucasian valleys. 



What wild plants, then, would have been available for his 

 experiments ? 



This particular region is an interesting and remarkable 

 one. Most of our common British plants occur along the 

 shore of the Black Sea to the Caucasus (apple, pear, nut, 

 turnip, cabbage, carrot, and others, are all probably to be 

 foimd there). On the Babylonian side of the mountains, 

 there is a warm sub-tropical climate in which almost every 

 useful plant can be grown. The desert also contains a few 

 other valuable plants. 



Near Ararat, Noah might have found rye, wheat, and 



barley growing wild. The Wild Vine also grows on the south 



of the Caucasus. " It grows there with the luxuriant wild- 



ness of a tropical creeper, clinging to tall trees and produc- 



* Hackel, True Qrasses. 

 272 



