THE GRAIN CROPS OR CEREALS. 53 



This we should remember, that wheat, like every other kind of 

 grain, must be carefully selected if we wish to keep it improved. 

 We can even change a winter variety to a spring by sowing 

 gradually earlier year by year; and we can change a spring 

 variety to a fall variety by sowing gradually later year by year. 



Get a head of bearded wheat ; take it to pieces, and observe the long 

 beards, what they are and how attached. Compare with the beards of a 

 barley head. Are the beards on the grain ? 



The grain of wheat is made up of several parts, the three 

 principal parts being first the outer skin or the bran coatings, 

 second the white flour portion, and third the little yellow germ 

 at one end. This germ is the living part of the grain, the flour 

 is the food stored up for feeding it in its early growth, and the 

 bran is the covering or cloak. If we grind up the whole 

 grain we get whole-wheat flour. By the old stone milling pro- 

 cess the bran alone was separated from the rest. By the new 

 process the grain is divided mainly into three parts, namely the 

 bran, the white flour, and the bluish or greyish germ flour. 



Place several grains of wheat in your mouth and chew them. 

 Gradually you separate and swallow part of the wheat that is 

 the starch ; you will have left in your mouth a gummy sub- 

 stance that is the gluten. The gluten is the richest part of 

 ihe flour ; it is what gives it its strength. 



RYE. In some countries of Europe rye takes the same 

 place that wheat does in America, it is the great flour-produc- 

 ing crop. As with wheat it is sown both in the fall and 

 in the spring. It is very hardy and can be grown even on very 

 poor soils. With us it is sometimes sown in the fall to be cut 

 early in the summer as a soiling crop. The grain is longer 

 than that of wheat and its flour is quite dark. 



OATS. The oat plant furnishes a most important food forman 

 as well as for horses and other animals. Oats are generally classed 

 according to their color. The head is branched and the grains 

 are covered with a coarse loose husk, hence its light weight. 



