WHEAT, OATS, RYE, AND BARLEY 



137 



FIG. 85. PART OF A 

 YOUNG BARLEY 

 than PLANT, SHOWING 

 LARGE " CLASPS " 



How to recognize the seeds of the small-grains. The 



threshed grain of wheat, oats, rye, and 



barley may be distinguished as fol- 

 lows : 



Oat kernels are wrapped tightly in 



a long tough hull. Barley grains are 



covered with a hull that has grown 



to the kernel, forming an angular 



grain. Wheat grains have no hull after 



being threshed, and are short and 



usually plump. Rye grains, like wheat 



grains, have no attached hull, but 



are longer and more wrinkled 



those of wheat. 



How to recognize the young 

 plants. It is possible to distin- 

 guish between fields of these plants 

 when they are small. This can be 

 done by the width of the leaves, and 

 the erect or spreading growth. It 

 is sometimes puzzling to decide 

 whether a single young plant is 

 wheat, oats, rye, or barley. On the 

 leaves of young barley, wheat, and 

 rye plants there are tiny growths 

 like little horns, clasping the stem. 



These may be called " clasps. " They 

 FIG. 86. -PART OF A YOUNG hd to identify the plants ( Figs . 85 

 PLANT OF OATS, SHOWING 



THE ABSENCE OF "CLASPS" 86, 87, and 88). Barley has larger 

 clasps than any other kind of small-grain. Wheat has the 



