GRASSES, GRAINS, AND PLANTS. 575 



affording a remarkable quantity of green fodder. Siberian is a 

 German variety, noted for the gigantic product of grain and 

 stalk. The grain is large with a thin skin, yielding an excellent 

 flour. The other varieties have arisen from the period of sowing, 

 or from climate. 



The flour of rye is not white like that of wheat, but has a 

 pretty strong, grayish-brown tint, and does not bind so firmly 

 with water. It yields a short, much less. tough dough, out of 

 which it is impossible to separate the gluten from the starch by 

 washing with water. The cause of this is probably to be sought 

 in some peculiarity of the gluten of rye. It contains very little 

 fibrin, and on the contrary a nitrogenous substance, which Heldt 

 has ascertained to be vegetable gelatin. The starch is of the 

 same nature as that contained in other seeds. 



The only parasitic fungus affecting rye is ergot. 



Ergot is a kind of spur which issues from the grain of rye. 

 It is not a fungus itself, but a morbid growth caused by the 

 existence of minute fungi in the grain. It is not confined to 

 rye alone, but has been observed occasionally in wheat and 

 barley, and some of the grasses. It is a poison when eaten in 

 bread, producing a spontaneous gangrene, called ergotism. It is 

 also a powerful medicine, for which purpose it was first used in 

 the United States, in 1807. 



Barley. The native country is unknown. 



Barley is cultivated further north than any other of the grains. 

 In Europe, its northern limits are as follows : 



Orkney and Shetland Islands Lat. 61 N. 



Faroe Islands " 61 to 61 15' N. 



Western Lapland " 70 N. 



Russia (White Sea) " 67 to 68 N. 



Archangel " 66 N. 



Central Siberia " 58 to 59 N. 



It cannot be grown in Iceland, latitude 63 30' to 66 N. 

 Its northern limit in America does not appear to have been 

 ascertained. 



It is cultivated in the four quarters of the globe : in Syria 

 and Egypt for more than 3000 years. It was introduced into 

 the United States by Gosnold in 1602, and by colonists into 



