622 SOME OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF ECONOMIC BOTANY. 
home even for a long time in a near approximation to cultivated form. 
Hence, we are forced to receive 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 
ease. Let us imagine that a blight without parallel has brought to ex- 
tinction all the forms of wheat, rice, rye, oats, barley, 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 substitutions might be amusing in any other 
time than that of a threatened famine. Others would be far from appetiz- 
ing 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 com- 
position of the grains is theoretically and practically almost perfect as 
regards food ratio between the nitrogenous matters 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 cere- 
als take highest rank. Pressure would come from every side to compel 
us to find equivalents for the lost grains. From this predicament I 
believe that the well-equipped Experiment Stations and the Agri- 
cultural Departments in Europe and America would by and by extri- 
eate us. Continuing this hypothetical case, let us next inquire how 
the stations 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 in 
strict review. Size of grain, strength and vigor and plasticity of stock, 
adaptability to different surroundings, and flexibility in variation would 
be examined with scrupulous care. 
But the range of experiment would, under the circumstances, extend 
far beyond the relatives of our present cereals. It would embrace an 
examination of the other grasses which are even now cultivated for 
their grains, but which are so little known outside of their own limit 
that it is a surprise to hear about them. For example, the millets, 
great and small, would be investigated. These grains, so little known 
here, form an important crop in certain parts of the Kast. One of the 
leading authorities on the subject* states that the millets constitute 
* Food grains of India, A. H. Church, London, 1886, p. 34. In this instructive 
work the reader will find much information regarding the less common articles 
of food. Of Panicum frumentaceum Prof. Georgeson states in a letter that it is 
grown in Japan for its grain which is used for food, but here would take rank as a 
fodder plant. 
