426 



GENERAL MORPHOLOGY OF PLANTS, 



latitudes they are often sown in the autumn, since tne winters 

 are rarely severe enough to kill the young plants. Oats are 

 grown chiefly for stock feeding, but oatmeal for household use is 

 obtained by special processes for removing the closely adhering 

 palets. 



574. Barley. Barley resembles wheat in the form of the 

 fruiting heads, but is like oats in the grain being permanently and 



closely covered by the palets. 

 It is grown from arctic to 

 tropical regions, being accli- 

 mated over a greater region 

 than other cereals. Barley is 

 chiefly used for making malt 

 in breweries, though both the 

 grain and straw are used as 

 food for stock. It is also used 

 for making certain of the fine 

 grades of whisky, as Scotch 

 whisky. Spring or summer 

 barley is a four-rowed species 

 (Hordeum vulgare) , while win- 

 ter barley (H . hexastichon) is 

 six-rowed and earlier intro- 

 duced into cultivation. 



575. Rice. This cereal 

 (Oryza saliva) is grown chiefly 

 Barley heads (grown at' Pullman, Wash.), in China, Japan, India, and the 



East Indies, which is said to 



have been its home. It is extensively cultivated in this country in 

 South Carolina, which produces the best rice in the world, and 

 in Louisiana. The industry is being developed in other South 

 Atlantic Gulf States. It requires a rich moist soil, which can be 

 flooded at certain seasons, though varieties are being developed 

 which grow under drier conditions. Rice is a nutritious food, 

 and the water in which it is cooked is said to contain a great part 

 of the nutriment. Rice is the principal cereal food for a large part 



