CHAPTER VII 



CEREALS AND FORAGE PLANTS 

 CEREALS 



46. General statement. The cereals must be regarded 

 as the most important crop plants of the world. They are 

 grasses that have been brought into cultivation on account 

 of the abundant starch stored in their seeds. This starch 

 is not only the basis of our." bread-stuffs/' but it also feeds 

 the animals from which we obtain our principal meat supply, 

 as well as those we use in other ways. The cultivation of cere- 

 als is the chief business of agriculture, so far as plants are 

 concerned, and among the cereals are plants that have been 

 cultivated throughout the whole recorded history of man. 

 In fact, it was probably the cultivation of cereals, more than 

 any other cause, that first transformed wandering tribes of 

 men into settled, agricultural people. 



The important cereals are corn, oats, wheat, barley, and 

 rye, and the order given represents their relative importance 

 in the United States at the present time. 



In considering the cultivation of cereals in the United 

 States, the student should know not only the methods of cul- 

 tivation, but also the range of cultivation and the relative 

 importance of each crop. The statistics given have been 

 obtained from the most recent information in possession of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture. They are 

 given in round numbers, but they will reveal the relative 

 importance of our cereals as at present cultivated. It must 

 also be remembered that the amount of production varies 

 from year to year, dependent upon what are called " good 



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