498 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



this produces species which seem almost peculiar 

 to itself. 



The diffusion of this family has almost no other 

 limits than those of the whole vegetable kiiiLuiom. 

 Grasses occur under the equator ; and are among 

 the few plants to be met wiih in the Irozeii re- 

 gions ol Spitzbergen. On the mountains o/' the 

 south ol Europe, and on the Andes, in our own 

 hemisphere, they ascend almost to the line ol' 

 perpetual snow. 



The most striking diflerences between tropical 

 and extra-tropical grasses are the tijllowing : 



1. The tropical grasses acquire a much greater 

 height, and occasionally assume the appearance 

 ol trees. Some species of bamboo, are li'om 50 

 to 60 feet high. 



2. The leaves of the tropical grasses are broader, 

 and approach more in form to those of other lami- 

 lies of plants. 



3. The flowers, in tropical grasses, are more 

 frequently imperfect, or diclinous, — i. e. the sta- 

 mens and pisiiis are otiener Ibund in distinct and 

 separate envelopes : they are also usually softer, 

 more downy, and elegant, — as may be seen in 

 the sugar cane, and others. 



4. The extra-tropical grdssp.s, on the other hand, 

 far surpass the tropical in respect of the number ol 

 individuals. That compact grassy turi; which, 

 especially in the colder parts of the temperate 

 zones, in spring and summer, composes the green 

 meadows and pastures, is almost entirely wanting 

 in the torrid zone. The grasses there, do not 

 grow crowded together, — but, like other plants, 

 more dispersed. Even in the south ol Europe, 

 they are less gregarious, — and meadows are sel- 

 donier to be seen than in the north. 



As to the distribution of individuals, the gene- 

 rality of species are social plants. The distribu- 

 tion of the cultivated grasses is determined not 

 merely by climate, — but depends partly on the 

 civilization, industry, and traliic of the people — 

 and often on historical events. Within the north- 

 ern polar circle, agriculture is found only in a few 

 places. In Siberia, grain reaches at the utmost 

 only to 60 degrees — in the eastern parts scarcely 

 above 55 — and in Kamtchatka there is no agri- 

 culture, even in the most southern parts, lat. 51 

 degrees. The polar limit of agriculture on the 

 northwest coast of America, appears to be some- 

 what higher ; lor in the more southern Russian 

 possessions (57 to 52 degrees,) barley and rye 

 come to maturity. On the east coast of America, 

 it is scarcely above 50 to 52 degrees. Only in 

 Europe — namely, in Lapland — does the polar 

 limit reach an unusually high latitude, viz : 70 

 degrees. Beyond this, dried tish, and here and 

 there potatoes, supply the place of grain. The 

 grains which extend larthest to the north, in 

 Europe, are barley and oats. These, which in 

 the milder climates are not much used for bread, 

 ati'ord to the inhabitants of the northern parts of 

 Norway and Sweden, of a part ol Siberia and 

 Scotland, their chief vegetable nourishment. Rye 

 is the next which becomes associated with these. 

 This is the prevailing grain in a great part of the 

 northern temperate zone ; namely, in the south 

 of Sweden and Norway, Denmark, and in all the 

 lands bordering on the Baltic, in the north of 

 Germany, and part of Siberia. In the zone where 

 rye prevaiU, wheat is generally to be (bund, — 

 barley being here chiefly cultivated lor the ma- 



nufacture of beer, and oats supplying food for the 

 horses. To these there follows a zone in Europe 

 and western Asia, where rye disappears?, and 

 wheat almost exclusively furnishes bread. The 

 middip, or the South of France, England, a part 

 of Scotland, a part of Germany, Hungary, the 

 Crimea and Caucasus, as also the lands of middle 

 Asia, where agriculture is (bllowed, belong to this 

 zone. Here ihe vine is also found ; wine su|)- 

 plants the use of beer, in many places ; and bar- 

 ley is consequently less raised. Next comes a 

 district where wheat still abounds, but no longer 

 exclusively luru'shes bread, — rice and maize be- 

 coming frequent. To this zone belong Portugal, 

 Spain, pan of France, on the JVlediterranean, Italy 

 and Greece ; also the countries of the East, Per- 

 sia, nothern India, Arabia, Egypt, Nubia, Barba- 

 ry, and the Canary Islands : in these latter coun- 

 tries, however, the culture of maize or rice, 

 towards the south, is always more considerable ; 

 and in some ol' them, several kinds of Sorghum 

 (kindred sjecies of our broom corn), and poa 

 ^bijssinica (a plant related to our meadow grass) 

 — come to be added. In both these regions of 

 wheat, rye only occurs at a considerable eleva- 

 tion ; oats still more seldom, until at last they 

 entirely disappear, — barley aflbrding food for 

 horses and mules. In the eastern parts of the 

 temperate zone of the old continent, in China and 

 Japan, our northern kinds of grain are very un- 

 (requent, — and rice is found to predominate. The 

 cause of this difference between the east and the 

 west of the old continent, appears to be in the 

 manners and peculiarities of the people. In North 

 America, wheat and rye grow as in Europe, — 

 maize is more reared in the western than in the 

 old continent, and rice predominaies in some of 

 the southern districts of the United Slates. With- 

 in the torrid zone, maize predominates in Ameri- 

 ca — rice in Asia — and both those grains in nearly 

 equHl quantity in Africa. The cause of this dis- 

 tribution is, without doubt, historical: for Asia is 

 the native country of rice, and America of 

 maize. 



In some situations — especially in the neighbor- 

 hood of the tropics — wheat is also met with, but 

 always subordinate to these other kinds of grain : 

 In the high lands of South America, there is a 

 distribution similar to that of degrees of latitude. 

 Maize, indeed, grows at the height of 7200 feet 

 above the level of the sea, but only predominates 

 between 3000 and 6000 feel of elevation. Below 

 3000 feet it is associated with other vegetables pe- 

 culiarly tropical ; while from 6000 to 9260 feet, 

 the European grains abound, — wheat in the lower 

 regions — and rye and barley in the higher. 



To the south of the tropic of Capricorn, where- 

 ver agriculture is practised, considerable resem- 

 blance with the northern temperate zone may be 

 observed. In the southern parts of Brazil, in 

 Buenos Ayres, in Chile, at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and in the temperate zone of New Holland, 

 wheat predominates ; barley, however, and rye, 

 make their appearance in the southernmost parts 

 of these countries, and in Van Dieman's Land. — 

 In New Zealand the culture of wheat is said to 

 have been tried with success: but the inhabitants 

 avail themselves of a species o? fern [Acrosti- 

 chum lurcatum] as the main article of sustenance. 

 Hence it appears, that, in respect of the predo- 

 minating kinds of grain, the earth may be divided 



