72 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



preparation of this liquid, oatmeal was employed. 

 The principal use now made of oats in the southern 

 division of the kingdom is the feeding of horses, for 

 which purpose the grain is admirably adapted ; a 

 large quantity of this grain is farther consumed in the 

 fattening of poultry. The deer of Henry VIII 

 were fed with oats. In the Privy Purse Expenses 

 of this king (published by Mr Nicolas), is the follow- 

 ing entry : ' Paied to the keper of Grenewiche 

 parke for xiiij lode of hey And for vi lode of Oots, 

 for the relief of the dere there, And for the carriage 

 thereof, yjK. ijs. viiid.' Oatmeal, prepared by various 

 processes of cooking, composes at this day a large 

 proportion of the food of the inhabitants of Scotland, 

 and particularly of the better-fed portion of the 

 labouring classes. Oaten cakes, too, are much used 

 in Lancashire. 



The wild oat, which is certainly indigenous to this 

 country, is found to be a very troublesome weed. It 

 is said that the seed will remain buried under the soil 

 during a century or more without losing its vegetating 

 power, and that ground which has been broken up 

 after remaining in grass from time immemorial, has 

 produced the wild oat abundantly. 



It is a curious fact that the vital principle of some 

 vegetables will lie dormant, under certain circum- 

 stances, for long and indefinite periods without being- 

 extinguished. Seeds have been made to grow in 

 this country which were brought from Herculaneum,. 

 after having been buried for more than seventeen cen- 

 turies, but which, having during all that period been 

 deprived of air, had been prevented from vegetating. 

 The necessity that exists for the access of air in some 

 degree, in order to promote or set in action vege- 

 table life, has been shown by the experiments of 

 several ingenious men, who, having placed seeds 

 under circumstances otherwise favourable to their 



