370 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



barley, but he has not been able to go into the details of 

 each species. 



The six-rowed barley has not been seen in the con- 

 ditions of a wild plant, of which the species has been 

 determined by a botanist. I have not found it in Bois- 

 sier's herbarium, whicii is so rich in Eastern plants. It 

 is possible that the w'ild bin-leys mentioned by ancient 

 authors and by Olivier "svere Honlciuii hexaslichoa, but 

 there is no proof of this. 



On Barleys in general. 



We have seen that the only form which is now found 

 wild is the simplest, the least productive, Hordeuni dis- 

 tichon, which was, like H. hexa:^! ichon, cultivated in 

 prehistoric time. Perhaps //, viihjare has not been so 

 lono^ in cultivation as the two others. 



Two hypotheses may be drawn from these facts: 1. 

 That the barleys with four and six rows were, in prehis- 

 toric aijriculture anterior to that of the ancient EL;vi)tiaTis 

 wdio built the monuments, derived from // distichon. 

 2. The barleys with six and four ranks were species 

 formerly wild, extinct since the historical epoch. It 

 would be straniie in this case that no trace of them has 

 remained in the floras of the vast region comprised be- 

 tween India, the Black Sea, and Abyssinia, where we 

 are nearlj- sure of their cultivation, at least of that of the 

 six-ranked barley. 



Rye Sec(de cereale, Linnrens, 



Rye has not been very long in cultivation, unless, 

 perhaps, in Russia and Thrace. It has not been found 

 in Egyptian monuments, and has no name in Semitic 

 lauoiiao-es, even in the mixlern ones, nor in Sanskrit 

 and the modern Indian laniruafres derived from Sanskrit. 

 These facts agree with the circumstance that rye thrives 

 better in northern tl\an in southern countries, wdiere it 

 is not usually cultivated in modern times. ])r. Bret- 

 schneider^ thinks it is unknown to Chinese agriculture. 

 He doubts the contrary asseition of a modern writer, 



' Bi'etsclmeicler, On Study and Value, etc., iip IS, 44. 



