CHAPTER II. 



THE CEREALIA; OR, THE GRASSES CULTIVATED 



FOR THEIR SEEDS. 



WE have dwelt thus far chiefly upon the grasses, both 

 cultivated and wild, which are used to greater or less 

 extent as food for stock, either in the green and succu- 

 lent stage of their growth, or cured for winter forage. 

 In this chapter I propose to speak briefly of the cereals, 

 or the grasses which are cultivated mainly on account 

 of the large size of their farinaceous or mealy seeds. 



The Cerealia might properly be considered a genus 

 of the great family of plants which forms the subject 

 of this treatise, the Graminece, especially when taken 

 from a practical point of view. The term itself was 

 derived from Ceres, deified by the ancients as the beau- 

 tiful goddess of corn, and it includes a class of plants 

 by far the most important of any in the known world. 



The cereals are all annuals, and they die down after 

 having fulfilled their natural destiny the production 

 and ripening of their seeds. In structure they resem- 

 ble the grasses of which we have already spoken ; that 

 is, they all have hollow stems, divided or closed at the 

 joints, while from these joints start sheaths which rise, 

 clasping the stems, but open or divided on one side. 

 The ears or heads of the cereals consist of many flow- 

 ers, arranged either in spikes, as in wheat, or panicles, 

 as in oats, rice, and millet. They have three stamens. 



This class of plants consists chiefly of rice, wheat, 



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