^GILOPS 113 



grass of Southern Europe and Western Asia. 

 That a wild and apparently useless grass, very 

 dissimilar from wheat, should by careful culti- 

 vation become so changed as to afford a useful 

 and nutritious grain for the food of many 

 nations in countries widely separated, is a 

 proof of the advantages of civilisation, what- 

 ever may be advanced against it. But this 

 is not all. Its adaptability to circumstances 

 renders it capable of easily affording a large 

 series of varieties. No plant is so easily 

 adapted to the variations of climate, soil, and 

 management as is wheat. It has a wider geo- 

 graphical range than most plants. Eice, maize, 

 and wheat may be said to support the greatest 

 number of the human race. 



The eminent botanists, M. Fabre in France, 

 and T. Moore, of The Treasury of Botany 

 fame, have taken the wild grass ^Egilops and 

 placed it under modern methods of cultivation. 

 In the course of a few years, they had the 

 gratification of seeing good ears of wheat 

 gradually emerging, as it were, from the 

 formerly wild grass. Many of the plants rose 



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