52 AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE GRAIN CROPS OR CEREALS. 



The principal grain crops of the farm are wheat, oats, barley, 

 rye, corn, buckwheat, and millet, and to these we shall briefly 

 refer. It must be remembered that these crops also may be, 

 and frequently are, cut green and fed to stock before the grain 

 is formed, especially rye, corn and millet. Other crops also 

 are used for soiling, such as clover, peas, and tares or vetches. 



While the plant is growing it takes in food from the air and 

 the soil. It keeps on increasing in size until in full bloom. Then 

 the seed begins to form from the blossom, and all the material 

 that goes to form the seed is taken up out of the leaf, stem, 

 and root, where it has been stored up. During all this time of 

 seed-forming, very little plant food comes in through the root, 

 so that when the seed is fully formed, the leaves and stalk and 

 root are not so rich or nutritious as they were at the time of 

 blossoming. From this you will see why it is that straw is not 

 so rich a food as hay. 



WHEAT. Wheat is sometimes classed according to its color, 

 red and white ; sometimes according to its grain, hard and 

 soft; sometimes according to its chaff, beaided and bald; 

 sometimes according to the time it is sown, fall or winter, and 

 spring. We use these four methods in describing any 

 variety of wheat. Where the first wheat came from we 

 do not know ; but wheat taken from one climate to another 

 and from one kind of soil to another will change in size, form, 

 and general appearance, so that we need not expect to find the 

 same variety of wheat always appearing exactly as described. 



