

THE CEREAL FRUITS 



179 



heavy bread; it is still used extensively for this purpose in Russia, 

 Germany and other Old World countries. In the United States 

 rye is of little importance, being raised only in the Dakotas and 

 Minnesota. Rye is also used for hay, and its straw is used in mak- 

 ing paper and other products. The grains are used in making 

 whiskey and alcohol. 



Oats 



No near relatives of the cultivated oats are known, so its 

 exact origin is uncertain; it may have had several ancestral 

 homes — in Ethiopia, in the Mediter- 

 ranean region or in China. Oat 

 plants grow to a height of five feet, 

 with open panicles like those of rice, 

 bearing numerous spikelets which 



Fig. 111. — Rye resem- 

 bles barley in habit but 

 has grains similar to those 

 of wheat; spikelet and 

 grain figured above. 



Fig. 112. — Oat plants bear 

 open panicles like those of rice; 

 spikelet, grain with hull, and 

 cross section of grain figured 

 above. 



produce the grains (fig. 112). Oats are very nutritious, since they 

 contain a considerable amount of fat and protein as well as 

 carbohydrates. Lacking gluten, oats can not be made into a 

 bread flour, but are used as a breakfast cereal. Three quarters 

 of the domestic crop is used locally as feed for horses and other 

 animals. The United States leads the world in oats production, 

 though it is a crop also in Russia; the American crop is raised 

 chiefly in Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota. 



