RYE BARLEY OATS. 115 



and in the spring ; the first is called winter or " fall" wheat, and 

 the second spring wheat; the season of the harvest varies accord- 

 ing to the climate. 



50. There is a species of wheat called spelt, the seeds of 

 which are not separated from their envelope by thrashing, and 

 still another called dog or couch-grass, having a long spreading 

 root, which is very injurious on account of the rapidity with 

 which it overspreads wheat-fields. 



51. Common rye Secale very much resembles wheat, but 

 it never has more than two flowers joined in the same glume, and 

 forming a spikelet. It is said to have come originally from the 

 Levant, but is cultivated in the United States and all parts of 

 Europe ; it succeeds better than wheat in cold countries, and in 

 dry and arid soils. It is sown earlier than the other cereals, and 

 generally flowers in the month of May ; and it is usually gathered 

 fifteen or twenty days before the wheat (generally in the month 

 of July). Rye flour is not so white as that of wheat, but is used 

 for the same purposes. 



52. Barley Hordeum is distinguished from the preceding 

 species by its simple, compact spike, formed of spikelets of a single 

 flower, arranged three and three ; its height does not exceed two 

 or three feet. It is the easiest of the cereals to cultivate, and the 

 most rapid in its development ; but barley flour is even less 

 nourishing than rye. What is called pot barley is made by grind- 

 ing off the husk, and pearl barley is made by carrying the opera- 

 tion so far as to produce roundness of the grains. 



Malt is the chief purpose for which barley is cultivated in Great Britain 

 arid the United States. In order to understand the process of malting-, it 

 may be necessary to observe, that the cotyledons of a seed, before a young 

 plant is produced, are changed by the heat and moisture of the earth into 

 sugar and mucilage. Malting is only an artificial mode of effecting this 

 object, by steeping the grain in water, and fermenting it in heaps, and then 

 arresting its progress towards becoming a plant, by kiln-drying it, in order 

 to take advantage of the sugar in the distillation of spirits, or fermentation 

 for beer. 



53. Oats Arena has its flowers arranged in an open panicle, 

 composed of multiflorous spikelets hanging on their peduncles. 

 The seeds adhere to the glume, and are oblong and acute ; they 

 are much used as food for horses. Oats are sown in the autumn 

 or spring, and are gathered from the middle of July to the first of 

 September. The flour, called oat meal, is also made into bread, 

 and forms what is termed groats by grinding off the husk. 



50. Are there other kinds of wheat ? 



51. What are the characters of rye ? 



52. How is barley distinguished from wheat and rye ? What is the dif 

 ference between pot and pearl barley ? What is malt ? 



53. What are the characters of oats ? 



