CEREAL GRASSES. 35 



lent oatmeal soup by baking the oatmeal first and then 

 boiling it. 



Oats are the least subject to diseases of any cereal. 

 The Potato Oat is subject to a thickening of the base of 

 the stem familiarly called tulip-root, accompanied by an 

 unhealthy development of the leaf. The cause of the 

 disease is not clearly ascertained, but it prevails most in 

 wet land. Bunt and mildew scarcely ever affect oats, 

 and smut only to a slight extent. 



Wireworms torment the roots a little, especially in 

 land recently reclaimed, and this evil is best obviated by 

 paring and shallow ploughing, and any means calculated 

 to destroy the roots of the aboriginal grasses. Some 

 larvae prey upon the leaves, but do not materially injure 

 the plants. 



Eye does not bear such extremes of cold as oats and 

 barley, but it becomes associated with them in the north 

 temperate zone, flourishing well in the south of Sweden 

 and Norway, in Denmark, and in all the lands bordering 

 the Baltic, in the north of Germany, and in part of Si- 

 beria. It can be grown in climates that are too cold for 

 the production of wheat ; it delights in the sandy soil of 

 Flanders, and grows there in much perfection. It is cul- 

 tivated to a slight extent for corn in Britain, and its 

 flour made into bread and cakes, but these are used 

 rather as dainties than for general purposes, rye-rolls 

 being sold in the Edinburgh shops in the same way as 

 currant buns and gingerbread. Household bread when 

 made of rye is more adapted for supporting physical 

 strength, and therefore better suited for the classes sub- 

 ject to hard work, than wheaten bread. The Germans 

 account it also more nourishing, but that is because they 

 use the coarsest kind of wheaten bread, and that is in- 



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