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ever — as the other grains had each a proper name — the gensric term, Com, 

 has come to be almost exclusively employed, in the United States, to des* 

 ignate the Maize: and thus the word — like many others in our language 

 — has, by usage, acquired a somewhat different meaning, on different 

 sides of the Atlantic. — I shall not trespass on your patience by enlarging 

 on a subject so familiar to all, as is the value and importance of Wheat. 

 Ycu are all aware, that in the greater portion of our happy country — es- 

 pecially in the middle and western States — it is one of the prominent 

 objects of our Agriculture. So long, therefore, as our people shall apply 

 themselves to the tillage of the soil, we may reasonably hope to be ex-' 

 empted from that fearful calamity, a want of Bread. In addition to the 

 supply of food, furnished by Wheat, — I may remark, that our Laundresses 

 are chiefly indebted to its Farina for that important article in their opera- 

 tions, known by the name of Starch: and in the olden time — when, 

 whatever may have been the interior condition of the head, Fashion requi- 

 red the exterior, at least, to be conspicuously decorated, — the same amy- 

 laceous extract supplied the hair-dresser with his powder. As we have 

 neglected the external finish, so elaborately bestowed on the Pericranium, 

 by our ancestors, it would seem to be but reasonable that we should give 

 the more attention to the furniture within ! Although capable of yielding 

 Alcohol — like all the farinaceous seeds — Wheat is generally too valua- 

 ble, as an article of food, to be desecrated by the process of distillation. 



In our notice of the Ccrcalia, the last in order — and, as is supposed, 

 the first in importance, by reason of its extensive use, — is the Rice plant 

 {Oryza sativa, L.). The beautiful grain which this grass aflbrds, — 

 though considered by us, here, more as a delicacy than as a standing dish, 

 — is the principal sustenance of millions of the human race. Being a 

 kind of semi-aquatic plant, Rice flourishes best in grounds that are low 

 and marshy, or so situated that they can be overflowed — though there is a 

 variety, called upland, or Mountain Rice, which is much cultivated : and 

 every where, within the Tropical, and adjacent regions, where circumstan- 

 ces are favorable to its culture, this admirable Grass is to be found. In 

 the southern parts of India — as I have had occasion to witness — the 

 dense and squalid population is almost exclusively subsisted upon Rice. 

 The elegant preparations of this grain, which crown the tables of the 

 wealthy, in Oriental climes, must be seen, and tasted, to be duly apprecia- 

 ted. It is also much used as food, in Roman catholic countries, in the 

 time of Lent. This plant belongs to a small subdivision of the Grass 

 tnbe, in which the/lowers are often furnished with the extraordinary num- 

 ber of six stamens ; — or possibly they may each consist of two florets 

 concentrated within the proper envelopes of a single flower, — by which 



