THE GRAINS 155 



other grains belongs to the great grass family. The 

 seeds are borne in a terminal panicle in much the 

 same manner as oats. Comparatively few varieties 

 have been grown in the United States, but in Jaj)an 

 and other Eastern countries a great number are rec- 

 ognized. The Honduras rice, formerly so largely 

 grown in Louisiana and Texas, had a soft kernel 

 which broke badly in milling, thus occasioning con- 

 siderable loss. Through the efforts of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture a superior kind has been 

 imported from Japan, which has a grain hard enough 

 to resist the milling machinery, and the loss from 

 broken grains is thus avoided. 



Diseases and Insects. — So far rice has been com- 

 paratively free from troubles of this kind. A few 

 years ago a rice smut was imported into South Caro- 

 lina from Japan, but has only been locally trouble- 

 some. Such other troubles as occur have attracted 

 but little attention and have not been exhaustively 

 studied. 



Oats (Avena saliva Linn.) 



Oats are grown with more or less success in all 

 parts of the Southern states, and can even be grown, 

 as a winter crop, on some soils in Cuba. They do 

 best at the South when planted in the fall, although 

 they are occasionally injured by exceptionally severe 

 winters. Fall-planted oats may be pastured through- 

 out the winter, when the ground is not too soft, and 

 will still make a fair crop of grain, though yields at 

 the South are never as large as at the North. In fact 

 they are usually planted quite as much for the pas- 



