CEREAL GRASSES. 39 



Germanica, or German Millet, and the Abyssinian corn 

 plants Teff and Tocusso. Mr. Gorrie thus describes the 

 Poa Abyssinica in the 'Cyclopaedia of Agriculture': — 

 " Several varieties of Teff, or Abyssian Millet, the only 

 cereal species of Poa, are much cultivated in Abyssinia, 

 for their small, millet-like seeds, which are highly es- 

 teemed in the domestic cookery of the Abyssinians, and 

 from the flour of which they prepare a soft, spongy, and 

 sourish, though not disagreeable, kind of bread. These 

 varieties are classified into white- and brown-seeded, the 

 former of which are deemed the finest. The P. Abyssi- 

 nica has been known to British botanists for nearly a 

 century, but only as a botanical or horticultural rarity ; 

 nor has its introduction into the more suitable climates 

 of southern Europe been attended with much success, 

 chiefly in consequence of the preference given to the true 

 Millets, and partly from an existing opinion that, to 

 Europeans at least, it is by no means so wholesome as 

 those." Even the Stipa pinnata is said to produce flour 

 like that of rice. 



Maize (Zea Mays) is as much cultivated as wheat in 

 Portugal, Spain, south of France, Italy, Greece, Persia, 

 Arabia, Egypt, Nubia, Barbary, the Canary Islands, 

 and India, increasing continually as you proceed south- 

 wards. Maize predominates in the torrid zone of Ame- 

 rica, and shares the empire with rice in Africa, which is 

 natural, America being the native country of maize as 

 Asia is of rice ; so that we are not surprised at finding 

 it even at an altitude of 7200 feet ! 



This is one of the handsomest of the cereals ; it rears 

 its elegant plumes of flowers from the summit of a culm 

 eight or ten feet high. Beneath this plume, situated in 

 the axils of the broad flag-like leaves, appear generally 



