GRAMTNE^E. 



295 



arises from the use to wliich the ripjid hvaiiches of tlio panicle is applied, ?'. c, 

 the makiug of brooms, ."^accliaratnm owes its name to the fact that this 

 species is used for making sugar. 



Hislonj. — Surghum is native in the middle of Africa, and was taken to 

 England in the latter part of the eighteenth century, whence it was Ijrought 

 by colonists to ea.>^tern North America, where it has for many years been 

 cultivated. It lias also been cultivated in Egypt, Al)y.ssiuia, and the Deccan. 



(Jse. — Sorghum was grown formerly in the eastern United States for the 

 manufacture of brooms, and in the South for feed for cattle. A coarse meal 

 is made of the seed, which is fed to poultry. During recent years it has been 

 used for making syrup and sugar. 



The government of the United States lias given much attention to this plant, 

 in order to ascertain its value as a sugar producer, in comparison with that of 

 the cane. I\Ir, Leonard Wray claims that varieties grown in Natal compare 

 with the sugar cane in the ratio of five to six ; that is, where the cane yields 

 thirty, sorghum yields twenty-five. It is cultivated in P>ance and French 

 Africa for the production of alcohol, and in Italy for a syrup used in doctoring 



SECALE, L. Spikelets 2-flowered, crowded into a cylindrical spike ; 

 florets sessile, distichous, perfect, with a linear rudiment of a third 

 terminal floret. Glumes subopposite, nearly equal, 

 keeled, and sometimes awned. Palea?. herbaceous, the 

 lower one awned, and keeled with unequal sides, 

 outer side broader and thicker, the upper palea shorter, 

 2-keeled ; scales 2 in number, entire, ciliate ; stamens 

 3; ovary sessile, hairy; stigmas 2, subsessile, termi- ''MsXMI/// 

 nal, and plumose ; hairs lengthened, simple, and ,^ 

 sharply denticulate ; grains hairy at the top. Spike 

 simple, compressed, and linear. 



S. cereals, L. (Rye.) Stem hairy near the head, and 

 ranging from 3 to 5 feet in height. Leaves lance-linear, 

 edges and upper side rough, glaucous. Heads about 5 

 inches long, linear, flattened. PalciU lower, ciliate on the 

 keel and margin. Awns rough and ciliate, long, straight, 

 erect. Annual and biennial. 



There is l)ut one species under cultivation, S. cereale ; but, 

 like all plants grown from the seed, it sports, and the varie- 

 ties are numerous, though far le.ss attention has been paid 

 to its cultivation in that direction than to wheat. 



(T€Offra/i/n/. — Tlie geograjihical range of rye is the colder 

 ])arts of the temperate regions of the world, between 48° 

 and 69° north latitude all around the globe, where the cere- 

 als are cultivated. In northeastern United States it is an 

 important crop for bread ; in the central states it is largely Secale cerrale 

 raised for distilling. It grows well, and is tlie great cereal (Rye), 



of northern Europe, and especially of the sandy districts 

 of the TJaltic provinces, and the shores of the Cnlf of Finland 



T?ye of an excellent (jn-ility for bread making is grown upon the great 

 plain on Long Island. William Cobbet, who in his ih\\- owned a large tract 



