204. 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



hpiccne (see cut 39, p. CG.) ; other two scales 

 rorin the glume. The stamens, usually three in 

 number, have capillar filaments, and the anthers 

 are biped at both extremities. The pistil rises 

 from a unilocular ovary, marked by a longitu- 

 dinal furrow, and is surmounted by two styles, 

 which terminate in two hairy and glandular stig- 

 mas. When the ear with its seeds is placed upon 

 II single rib or rachis, it is called a spike, as in 

 wheat ; when the rachis is branched, as in oats, 

 it is called a panicle. 



The principal plants forming the cerealia are 

 wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, rice, maize ; other 

 cereal grasses, possessing the same farinaceous 

 properties, are neglected only on account of the 

 sraallness of their seeds. None of this family 

 possess any deleterious properties, Avith the single 

 exception of the darnel (lolium temulentum), a 

 conmion weed in every field in Britain, whose 

 deleterious qualities, though perhaps somewhat 

 exaggerated, are undoubtedly ascertained. 



Every civilized nation, from the earliest re- 

 cords, has sedulously cultivated grain. In the 

 sepulchres of the most ancient of the Egyptian 

 monarchs, which have been explored by modem 

 travellers, was found the common wheat, in ves- 

 sels which were so perfectly closed, that the 

 grains retained both their form and colour. The 

 wlieat, buried there for several thousand years, 

 affords a proof of the ancient civilization of Egypt 

 as convincing as the ruins of temples and the 

 inscriptions of obelisks. And yet, what is suf- 

 ficiently singular, the corn plants, such as they 

 are found under cultivation, do not grow wild in 

 any part of the earth. Wheat has been traced, 

 indeed, in Persia, springing up in spots, very re- 

 mote from human habitation, and out of the line 

 of the traffic of the natives; but this circum- 

 stance is far from proving that it is a production 

 natural and indigenous to Persia. In Sicily 

 there is a wild grass called CEgilops orata, which 

 is found in particular districts. It has been held 

 that the seeds of this plant may be changed into 

 com by cultivation ; and that the ancient wor- 

 ship of Ceres, which considered the fields of 

 Enna and of Trinacoria as the cradles of agricul- 

 ture, had its origin in this transformation of the 

 native grass. Professor Latapie of Bourdeaux 

 affirms, that having cultivated the seed of the 

 (Tgilops, the plant has changed its generic char- 

 acter, and has made approaches to that of wheat. 

 Sir Joseph Banks, in a paper addressed by him 

 to the horticultural society, in the year 1806, 

 stated, that having received from a lady some 

 packets of seeds, and among them one labelled 

 " hill wheat," the gi-ains of which were hardly 

 larger than those of our wild grasses, but which, 

 when viewed through a magnifying lens, were 

 found exactly to resemble wheat, he sowed 

 these graias in his garden, and was much sur- 

 lu-ised on obtaining, as their produce, a goofl 



crop of spring wheat, the grains of which were 

 of the ordinary size. Every inquiry that was 

 made to ascertain the history of these seeds 

 proved fruitless. All that could be established 

 with regard to the place of their production was, 

 that they came from India ; but as to the par- 

 ticular locality, or the amount of cultivation they 

 had received, or whether the grain was indeed 

 in that instance a spontaneous offering of nature, 

 could not be ascertained. Experiments such as 

 these may lead to the supposition, that in the 

 com plants, as in other vegetables, great modifi- 

 cations have been produced by cultivation ; but 

 they do not at all interfere with the belief that 

 the cereal grains are spread over the earth by 

 the agency of man alone ; and that they are be- 

 quests from past ages of civilization too remote 

 to afford any materials for the authentic history 

 of their introduction even into countries possess- 

 ing the most ancient records. Other seeds are 

 dispersed throughout the earth by winds and 

 currents, and various other ways ; but the corn 

 plants, in common with many other important 

 vegetable productions, follow the course of man 

 alone. This is a blessing which even hostile 

 armies are instruments in diffusing. Cortez, the 

 conqueror of Mexico, inhuman as he was in many 

 parts of his conduct, thus writes from Mexico to 

 the king of Spain : " All the plants of Spain 

 thrive admirably in this land. We shall not 

 proceed here as we have done in the isles, where 

 we have neglected cultivation and destroyed the 

 inhabitants. A sad experience ought to render 

 us more prudent. I beseech your majesty to 

 give orders that no vessel set sail for this country 

 without a certain quantity of plants and grain." 

 The diffusion of plants useful to man is an acci- 

 dent diminishing the evils of hostile invasion ; 

 it is a necessary attendant of commercial inter- 

 course. The Indians of New England called the 

 plantain " Englishman's foot ;" and in the same 

 way in the infancy of ancient society, wheat 

 might have been similarly regarded as springing 

 from the footsteps of the Persians or Egyptians. 

 In times approaching nearer to our own, we 

 know that wheat followed the march of the Ro- 

 mans, as the vino was in the train of the Greeks. 

 And to come still nearer, we find cotton remain- 

 ing in countries which had otherwise suffered 

 from the incursions of the Arabs. Humboldt 

 remarks, " that the migi-ation of these plants is 

 evident ; but their first country is as little known 

 as that of the different races of men which, from 

 the earliest traditioiisi, liave been found in all 

 parts of the gIol)e." 



The manner in which the most important gifts 

 of Providence to mankind, says a recent writer,* 

 have been diffused by the influence of conquest 

 or commerce, has some striking instances in the 



* Library of Entertaining Knowledge. 



1 



