CHAPTER II, 



BY common consent, and in every climate where it 

 can be cultivated, WHEAT Triticum is held in 

 the highest estimation of all the cereal grains. The 

 cost of its production, compared with that of some 

 other substantive articles of aliment, does, indeed, 

 occasion it to be but little consumed in countries 

 where the bulk of the inhabitants are constrained by 

 poverty to subsist upon the cheapest description of 

 food that will sustain life. Where, however, the 

 people are in a situation which enables them to in- 

 dulge their choice in respect of food, wheaten bread, 

 with scarcely an exception, constitutes the chief ma- 

 terial for consumption. 



Grain of Wheat, upper and under gides. 



A full-grown and perfect grain of wheat will, on 

 examination, be found to resemble the above figures. 

 In form, it is a compressed oval, and is inclosed 

 firstly in certain chaffy scales, which are readily to 

 be separated from it, and secondly in a membranous 

 tunic, which invests the seed much more closely. 

 Along that side of the grain which, while the plant 

 was growing, was turned towards the rachis, a 

 groove may be observed. At the base, on the op- 



