18 



GRASSES. 



Panicle of Oats. 



pal crops, being extensively 

 used as feed for horses and 

 cattle ; it is much easier of 

 culture than wheat, and can 

 be grown on soil that would 

 scarcely produce a good crop 

 of any other grain. In Ire- 

 land it is raised in great 

 quantities, and together with 

 potatoes, forms a considera- 

 ble part of the food of the 

 peasantry. Almost any cli- 

 mate is adapted to the growth 



of Oats. Good crops have been seen growing close 

 to the line of perpetual snow, at the Glacier de Bois- 

 sons, on Mont Blanc; and it is said to have been 

 found in a wild state on the island of Juan Fernan- 

 des, in the Southern Ocean ; but the few plants dis- 

 covered there may have been produced by grains 

 accidentally scattered by some of the pirates who in- 

 fested those seas soon after the discovery of the island. 

 Rice is a native of warm climates, and differs in 

 the mode of its cultivation from any other grain that 

 is grown. Those spots where various animal and 

 vegetable substances are washed down by rivers, are 

 most favorable to its growth. The marshy parts of 

 Hindostan and Carolina are among the chief portions 

 of the globe where rice is brought to perfection. But 

 the American rice is generally considered as being 

 much better than that which is grown in the East 

 Indies. 



