CERFAL GRASSES. 43 



and carried from the plantations, they are thrown into 

 a mill, and there crushed, and the juice expressed, and 

 received into troughs. It next runs into a pan called a 

 elarifier, where it is kept at a certain heat, but not al- 

 lowed to boil. During this process it is tempered with 

 lime and skimmed, and then it is drawn off as a clear 

 yellow liquid; it is then exposed to the air in open 

 vessels, and poured from one to another. It is left to 

 percolate slowly through the spongy stem of a Water 

 Plantain, thus it forms into crystals ; after this, it is 

 ready to be packed in casks for exportation. 



The Chinese Sugar-cane also abounds in sap ; it is 

 very valuable, because the canes are hard enough to re- 

 sist the attacks of the white ants, which make such 

 depredations upon other species. Canes are applied to 

 various industrial purposes. 



We have thus before us the most important uses of 

 the edible grasses or cereals. As furnishing the staff of 

 life in every part of the globe, and affording many arti- 

 cles of luxurious diet, their family becomes the most 

 valuable in all the vegetable kingdom. Art and civili- 

 zation have developed the utility of a great number of 

 species, but these are few in comparison with those 

 which have not yet been searched into. Mr. Loudon, 

 in his c Practice of Agriculture/ recommends very ear- 

 nestly the cultivation of an American grass, the Zizania 

 aquatica, the seeds of which, he says, resemble those of 

 Polish Millet. He thus describes the plant : — " It is 

 exceedingly prolific, and produces abundance of bland 

 farinaceous seeds in all the shallow streams of the 

 dreary wildernesses of North-west America, between 

 the Canadian lakes and the hilly range which divides 

 Canada from the country on the Northern Pacific 



